


Eurasia

by Revharem, Silvercrane666



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Bittybones (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Europe, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Original Character(s), Spiders are evil, Theft, Underfell Sans (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 52,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22814284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revharem/pseuds/Revharem, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvercrane666/pseuds/Silvercrane666
Summary: The barrier has broken and monsters, now considered no more than a mostly forgotten myth, are loose. This story follow a Bitty Red(Sans) and the trouble he gets into when he gets caught sneaking alcohol at a bar and stealing a manager's lunches.
Comments: 47
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Bitty story! My boyfriend and I are writing this together. In case you haven't noticed, I'm doing a lot of cowrites recently. Anyway, this is his first, so give me some feedback. Yes it is long, but I hope you enjoy. We are working on chapter 2, but updates happen when they happen. He has never written before.
> 
> I am writing Red, he is writing all other OC characters.
> 
> The world is set in Europe but the town has an Asian flair. I know that we still need to put in City Names and such, but I really wanted to get this out. It WILL be updated when I get that information.

Early evening had set in. Through the brightly adorned streets, a man about his mid to late 20’s, shuffled along towards his destination, a quaint dive bar on the far end of town. He was simply dressed in baggy jeans, sneakers, and a shirt with a video game logo on it. His laptop bag thumped against him as he went, finally reaching the bar. He opened the door and glanced around as he walked up to the bartop. He muttered a phrase to the bartender and he just flashed him a thumbs pointing to the back, towards the restrooms. With a nod, he moved down the hall and through an unmarked door, which led into a corridor. Following it, he was greeted by a curtain covering an opening. Moving forward, he paused for a moment before entering the next room.

As the man passed through the entrance, there in front of him, behind a torso high desk stood another man. He was dressed in simple, yet professional looking, azure-colored garb, light brown hair tied back into a braid, and a pure white, save for a few lines of black, mask on his face. He tilted his head, almost inquisitively at the man who had entered, and spoke in a confident voice.

“Welcome, sir. You have found your way into The Den this evening. What sort of comfort do you seek?” He finished his statement with a bow. The man nervously shuffled up to the counter, and looked about as he stumbled on some words.

The man was nervous, and probably embarrassed at his requests, but the masked man, simply nodded and produced a book. Across the pages were a variety of masks, colors, and patterns, a show book of the possible company one could find here. His eyes darted around the paper, and his fingers pointed out a few choices. The masked figure noted the decisions and proceeded to look through the worker's log. After a few moments, he gazed back at the man. “We have one or two individuals that can provide most of your requests, shall I summon one for you?” he inquired. The man looked deadfaced into the mask and nodded.

“Very good.” After taking a name and a form of payment, he shifted a hand to a small panel and pressed a button, “Ayano, you are summoned.” He muttered before releasing the button. Less than a minute later, a female with short black hair, dressed in a silk robe walked out from around a corner. She also wore a mask, but this one had several colors and marks adorned across it, most of them matching the choices the man had made. “Greetings sir.” She said with a polite tone and a bow. The man looked over the female and then back at the masked man.

"Ayano will be your comfort if you so wish. The going price is $30 an hour, payable as you leave The Den. The price does not include certain incidentals, such as alcohol. Those are separate charges. All we ask is that you treat her with respect and do not harm her. Is this acceptable to you sir?" The masked man tilted his head, and waited for a response to his question. The man nodded in agreement. "Very well! Ayano, keep this gentleman company for as long as he desires."

The woman bowed to the masked man. "I will take good care of him, Master Kitsu. Come with me, good sir." She moved forward to interlock her arm with the man and lead him out of the lobby and around the corner. Kitsu smiled behind his mask and proceeded to write some notes next to the man's name in his log book. "Hmmm. Probably been on an extended gaming binge, and needed someone to tell about his achievements or what not. Good thing we restocked the coffee in the rooms." He muttered to himself as he heard a buzz go off, signaling another potential client was approaching. He adjusted his mask, and stood straight as another figure passed through the curtain. "Welcome, I see you have found your way into The Den this evening. What kind of comfort do you seek?"

\--------

Red was rarely thankful for his small size, but today it had come in quite handy. Ever since arriving in the city he had been dodging rats, overgrown mice, and more than one starved spider. These were all normal foes, but not any less irritating for the ease of their dispatch. When he had finally caught a break and decided to sit for a smoke and rest under the grate of a street drain, he heard a couple of humans above talking. 

Normally he would tune the buffoons out, but they were speaking his language. Chicks and booze. Some uppity place a few blocks away that was open almost all night and only took ya to the good stuff if you knew what to say and who to talk to. Lucky for him, these idiots spilled the beans right above him, not that he would be using any password to get into the show.

That had been a few hours ago, but finally, finally, he had made it to the bar. Just as the men had said, outside it didn’t look like much. He knew as much as anybody that looks could be deceiving though. It was now dark and the streets were a different kind of busy. There were still too many clods walking around for him to attempt to walk the streets. He was normally lazy, but when there was booze to be had, Red would put in the effort. 

Quickly he drug himself out of the drain and up a splintered wood pole until he reached heavy black synthetic cords wrapped around it and reaching out to other such poles. One of these cords led directly to the building he wanted to get to. Cracking his knuckles and pulling on the chain that connected to his collar, he slung it around the cord and with a tight grip, leapt. The initial rough jerk on his collar almost caused him to let go of the chain. Almost. The thought of alcohol was stronger than his discomfort and he hung on.

Seconds later he slammed into the building and dropped the two feet to a window ledge winded and seeing stars. Maybe that wasn’t his best idea, but he had crossed the street and was still alive and unnoticed. Sitting and keeping an eye on the rather large spider further up the window, he regained his senses and breath. The damn pests were everywhere on the surface and unlike the Underground, he couldn’t just pay these ones off. They weren’t intelligent. When it started to creep towards him, he decided it was time to go. Dropping over the edge of sill he was sitting on, he used the screen below to scale down to the bottom of the window quickly, avoiding three more of the nuisances and killing a tunneler that nearly dragged him down into its nest. “Damn beasts.” he swore as he dragged himself free of the webs that had caught on several of the spikes on his collar and wrist bands. 

A giggle and mumbled conversation reached him as he grumbled and that’s when he noticed his saving grace. The window was cracked open inside the screen. Shredding a hole just big enough to slip through, Red quickly moved from the dangerous outdoors to the perfumed indoors of an obviously occupied and active back room. The activities surprised him though. 

A male dressed poorly and obviously out of place spoke softly, if animatedly. A woman of beauty hidden under a mask giggled at appropriate moments and cooed at others as she sat and listened, occasionally offering tidbits to the shallow male. Shaking his head with disgust at the display, Red looked for a way down from his perch on the window sill. Thankfully there was a string attached to the blinds that hung all the way to the floor. Grabbing it and sliding down quickly, he found a place to hide as the blinds dropped heavily. The humans squeaked and he hissed in amuzement. They didn’t stick around long after that and the door was left open.

Not wasting his chance, he dashed across the open area and followed the scent of booze, sticking to the moulding on the edge of the hallways and thanking the stars that humans didn’t look down while being entertained. He was passed by several couples before he finally made it to what he assumed was a reception area. Now this was an issue. A wide open space separated him from the doorway to that alluring scent. A tall, lean man watched the area, guaranteeing that any attempt to cross would be noticed and halted swiftly and likely violently if his previous interactions with humans were anything to go by. He would have to hide out for a while. Carefully and quietly, he cracked open one of the cupboards of the giant desk the man stood behind and after making sure no more arachnids or other pests were around, got comfortable to wait for the guy to leave so he could work on pillaging the alcohol. They wouldn’t miss what he would take anyway.

He had dozed off at some point, but when the door was opened and the dark cupboard flooded with light, he barely held back from hissing and striking out at the giant bit of flesh that reached past him to access the large metal thing in here with him. Instead, he tried to hide in the corner as best he could and hoped the light wouldn’t catch on his chains and spikes. He didn’t want to be caught this far in when he was so close. This place supposedly had some good liquor and he had been living on swill for months now.

\--------

Kitsu rubbed his eyes. The night had finally come to a close, even if the end of the night was 4 am. He made a final run over the logs before placing them into a floor safe, and securing it. He stood up and stretched with a groan. "And people say standing is better than sitting." He muttered as he walked away from the counter, unbuttoning his shirt and proceeding around the corner.

After about a minute, he arrived at the changing room. He could hear chatter and laughter from inside, the sounds of the workers talking. He smiled and proceeded to enter the room, a light chorus of "Hey, Kitsu", "Kitsu!", and "Master Kitsu" emanated from the 6 females within the room. He gave a smile, "Hello ladies. Everyone good tonight?" He closed the door behind him and strolled over to his locker. Removing the lock, he started to remove his top and place it in the locker. His mask soon followed, being stowed away. As he started to close up the locker, a voice chimed in. “Um...hey Kitsu?” 

He gazed over to Ayano who was sitting on a comfy chair on the side of the room. She had her phone in her hand sideways, her slender fingers tapping and sliding along it. “What do you need, Ayano? Was that one customer an issue for you?”

She looked up from her phone. “Oh no, not at all. He was talking about this new game that had just come out, and it sounds really cool. I was wondering if I could get a small pay advance so I could get a copy myself. Please, Kitsu. I don’t want to wait another week.” She looked at him with a pair of big eyes, the puppy dog ones. The other women watched this interaction, and waited to hear Kitsu’s answer. He looked about for a moment, and closed his locker. He leaned back against it and closed his eyes in thought. “Tell you what, when I get in tomorrow, I will look over the books, and let you know. Then we can discuss how much you want of your pay. Deal?” He shot her a kind smile.

“Thanks boss!” She cheered out, giving a thumbs up to Kitsu. He looked about at the other women, and smiled. “So, anyone else need anything?” A chorus of female voices filled the room, “Well you know, Kitsu…

After discussions for 15 minutes about what the women needed, the entourage was out into the early morning air of the city. Small chatter among the group broke the silence of the empty streets. Eventually they came to an intersection, at which time the group all went their separate ways. They waved and hugged, saying they would see each other later. Once they dispersed, Kitsu stood there alone in the glow of the lanterns that lined the streets. He let out a sigh and turned back the way he had come.

Following the path ingrained in his memory, he made his way through the streets and up a small hill on the outskirts of the city. Cresting the hill, the sight of a large house appeared before him. The building was the residence of the [family name] family, the family whose patriarch founded the city itself. His tired eyes glanced away from the large structure, and to a nearby building. A single story structure, decently long, not overly fancy, but well built and sturdy. The building was once used to house servants of the [family], but in later years it became a single person dwelling, one that Kitsu called home. He wasted little time getting into the building, closing the door, and flopping down on the couch. It had been a long day, and he needed the rest.

\--------

Red waited until he heard the footsteps leave the counter and disappear around another bend before he climbed out of the cupboard and looked around. Wide open space, no people around, and good liquor on the air. He was golden. Dashing across the floor, making a bee-line for the curtained off entry, he paused before slipping through, checking behind him and then on the other side before pushing through. Rushing this late in the game would do him no good.

Beyond the curtain he could hear no sound and assumed that either the bar up front was closed or there was some sort of door that would be blocking him from the next room. Baring his sharp teeth in the darkness, he moved forward, looking around for places to hide as well as a way around his next obstacle. The sound of voices behind him was unexpected though and he instantly rushed forward to hide in the corner of the dark hallway, praying they wouldn’t turn on a light and that no other critters had the same idea.

A large group came through the curtain and they thankfully all seemed to be interested in each other and not the floor, so as they made their way out, keeping clear of their shoes, he slipped out as well. The bar proper had finally been reached and the smell of the liquid ambrosia he had been searching for was all around. This was going to be a good night, he could literally taste it.

Once the humans were gone, he made his way to the bar itself. He had broken into plenty of bars before and knew his way around their setup. The tables, which often smelled of booze, were usually empty, but the bar itself, which reeked of cleaner, usually had all the mustard and alcohol a monster could dream of and more. It was getting up there that was the problem. Humans had a nasty habit of installing high ledges between the regular floor and where the guy serving the alcohol stood. Red really didn’t want to go looking for coins to make himself a set of steps, but he did want the alcohol, so coin collecting it was.

It took hours to find enough change, but when he finally had enough to get him up to the serving deck, he groaned and glared at the high shelves that held the nectar he was aiming to get his claws on. Looking around, he grinned when he found some wires that ran up the side of the shelves. He could climb those easily enough. It was a pain, but worth it. 

When he finally got up to the shelf, he found himself faced with another common problem. The bottles were all so fucking big. There wasn’t one that would even match his height. They all towered over him. Baring his fangs, Red began tapping glass until he found the bottles with thicker walls and then narrowed those down to ones with less liquid in them. Finally he had four bottles picked out. A black labeled dark amber liquor, a bottle of some clear liquid he really hoped wasn’t water, a bright blue colored, thin bottle, and a black bottle. Tipping them onto their sides and giving a couple good shoves and careful rolls he got the bottles off the shelves and watched them bounce unharmed off the wood deck below. The long, thin one unfortunately shattered, but the smell coming off the liquid suggested that it had been cheap booze anyway and that wasn’t what he was looking for.

Grinning, he slid down the wires to the shelf below and found several glasses that were about a quarter his size. They would work. He pushed a few with pretty pictures off the edge, but they all shattered, so he tried one with numbers and lines on it instead. It broke into even small pieces. Growling and about to just send the entire shelf over the edge, he noticed some thicker rimmed glasses behind all the pretty ones and went to grab one of those. They were heavy, but after some sorting, he found one he liked and could lift with little effort. Sliding it to the edge, he slid this new glass off the shelf and waited with baited breath. It bounced! 

With a whoop he rushed over to the wire and slid the rest of the way down to the floor and kicking aside the broken glass, gathered his bottles and glass and moved to a clear area to begin a good night of drinking. He still had a few hours to get smashed.

It was indeed hours later when he heard a disturbance at the doors to the bar. Two of the bottles had been emptied and he was well on his way to finishing this last one. Only another one of these small cups, maybe two, and he’d have it gone, but he couldn’t risk getting caught. Knocking back the drink and grabbing the glass, he took off for one of the cupboards that sat even with the floor, slipping in just as he heard steps cross the bar. Ha! They wouldn’t catch him so easily!

\----------

“Yeah, I just wanted to let you know. Ok thanks!” Kitsu replied into his phone. He had decided to head in early and look over the books and figure out the numbers for Ayano and the others. He slid the device back into his pocket, and fumbled for his copy of the key to the bar’s employee entrance. Finally after a few seconds searching, as well as making sure he did not drop the bag of food he was carrying, he produced the key and entered into the business. Considering the main way to access The Den was to pass through the bar, he had arranged for a copy of the key to the employee entrance and permission to use it. The owner had gladly agreed, on the condition that Kitsu does not disturb the bar or its contents. Relocking the door behind him, he passed through the storage room and out into the main bar area.

Even though he was not in any rush, he skidded to a stop with a look of confusion on his face. There on the bar shelf was spilled alcohol and stacked up coins. The thing was none of that was there last night when he and the women left through the bar. He placed his bag on one of the tables and crept over to the mess, all the while pulling the phone out from his pocket, and redialing the owner. “Hi again, it’s Kitsu. I was passing through the bar, and there is a small mess here. Bottles are toppled, empty and broken, glassware is misplaced and toppled, coins are scattered about them. It was not here when we left last night...no, I did not bother anything, I just found it like this...yes, yes...I will send you pictures. Should I clean it up?...Alright I will leave it be....Pictures will follow soon...take care.”

Kitsu closed the call and opened up his camera, taking a few shots of the mess. “Strange,” he muttered to himself. “Doesn’t look like anything else was bothered…” He glanced about, looking to see if anything else was disturbed. The main door was unbothered, no footprints on the entry rug, no attempted breaking into the cash register. Nothing out of place, outside of the change and the alcohol. He scratched his head in wonder as he sent the photos. “Well at least that is a minor issue. Oh well, nothing more I can do.” He picked up his bag from the table, and took one last look at the mess. He just shrugged and continued his way towards The Den.

\----------

Peeking out of the cupboard and glaring at the human who inspected his mess, Red hissed quietly to himself. He recognized that human. That was the one from the back that watched the open area. Curious and knowing that he couldn’t get any more booze for the time being, he slipped from his hiding place and rushed across the floor, avoiding large glass shards and jumping down to the floor. He barely made it to the door in time to squeeze through as it drifted shut. He’d get out later, when the man left. He wanted to see what this back area was about.

Ahead of him, he could hear the human still moving around and so followed the noise in the dark hallway. He poked his head out the curtain first, checking if it was clear, before dashing across the open space and back to the cupboard with the large shiny box the man had access the day before. He knew there hadn’t been any spiders or rodents there, so it should be safe enough to camp out and heck, it might even make a good crash space for him.

\----------

Kitsu passed through the curtain, giving his podium a lookover for any issues that may have been part of the intruder in the bar. Satisfied that nothing was disturbed, he walked down the hall and into the changing room. He put down the bag and rifled through it for a drink. Pulling a can out, he popped open the tab on the energy drink and took a hit. Content with his decision, he opened his locker, and stowed away his shoes and jacket, while also grabbing a pair of earbuds. He slid the earbuds into his ears and closed the locker. The earbuds were plugged into his phone, and after picking up his energy drink, he moved out into the hallway again, and started a routine check of the rooms.

He slid open the doors of each recreational room as he went, making sure that things were neatly arranged and nothing was missing or damaged. He mentally noted what each room needed along the lines of supplies or accessories. Making sure everything was set for the clients was a priority, one he made sure to keep up on. The women could request their own specific things, but for the moment, the basics were on his mind. Deciding to return later and write everything down, he strolled back towards the front of The Den and his podium.

\----------

Red could hear the man walking around the hallways and so while he was gone, he made use of the time to look around the desk area he was designating as his home away from the bar. Couldn’t be too careful and if he planned to stick around any length of time, he’d have to make the place a bit more cozy. First things first though, webs and spiders had to go. Ants and beetles too. They were all dangerous vermin and he wouldn’t chance waking up to one wrapped around his vertebrae. That had happened too many times since coming to the surface for him to be comfortable.

Summoning a single sharp, red bone, he cleared the few webs that existed and took out a grand total of five spiders and twelve ants. The only beetle he found was long dead, so he just kicked its carcass out from under the one side of the desk. This human seemed fastidious enough that he’d probably notice it and remove it by the end of the day for him. He got lucky with this guy. 

Hearing the heavy footsteps approaching, Red made a dash for the cupboard again, slipping slightly as he pulled himself up over the edge and the door nearly broke a femur and it bounced shut against him. Thankfully he got away with just a heavily bruised leg, but that bitch still hurt and he couldn’t help swearing quietly to himself as he tried to tuck himself into the back of the dark space, far away from searching, prying hands and eyes. He swore to himself that he wouldn’t be caught.

\----------

[Add song lyrics] Kitsu sang to himself as he rounded the corner into the entrance area. He stopped for a moment and looked around the space. He smiled at the sight of it, knowing that this was his room, much like the women had theirs. He slowly stepped towards the podium, stopping to admire and slightly straighten the decorum. He was not an obsessive one, but he took pride in his domain, trying to keep it as neat as he could. With a satisfied smile, he closed the gap to his podium. Just as he stepped behind it, he felt a bump under his shoe. “Hmmm?”

Lifting his shoe, he noticed a small bug slightly squashed into the floor at the foot of his podium. It was not too overly surprising, seeing as The Den was built into a hill. Giving it a small kick to the side, he reminded himself to sweep up a bit more thoroughly before opening tonight. He had a level of professionalism to keep up with. With the mental notes made, he proceeded to set his drink and phone down on the podium, and reached into his pocket for his keys. Once he had them out of his pocket, he knelt down and opened up the bottom cabinet, reaching in to unlock the safe and retrieve his ledgers.

\----------

Just as he’d figured, the human access the steel box in the morning as well as in the evening, shuffling papers and the like before shutting the door. It was likely some sort of lock box for ledgers. He remembered Amethyst keeping something like that in his own bar beneath the mountain. Once the cabinet door bounced shut again Red began making himself comfortable, stretching out and slipping out of his heavy jacket so that he could use it as bedding. Curling up small, he settled to get some sleep until the humans left. There wasn’t much else he could do and if this one had come in, then more were likely on their way.

\----------

“Business has been good it seems.” Kitsu remarked as he scanned over the last week or two of entries. The numbers were just a bit above the average, showing a small surge in business within the past two weeks. ‘Probably from a recent tourist boom.’ he thought with a smile. He tapped his foot to the music, as he wrote down information on a notepad he kept at the podium. He carefully manipulated the numbers, making sure the calculations were correct and accurate. After minutes of work, the scratching of pencil-on-paper came to a halt, and he read to himself the numbers he came up with. “Hmm, Ayano should be happy. Now to just figure out everyone else’s requests…” He hung his head and let out a sigh as he flipped another page in the notepad, and started writing once again, it was going to be a long afternoon. 

A few hours later…

Another empty can joined the pair of empty ones and a food container on the shelf behind Kitsu. He had gone through a decent amount of energy drinks and his lunch, all the while he worked to make sure the numbers were accurate, and his workers pay was correct. With the clicking of a pencil falling on the podium, Kitsu stretched and let out a moan. He needed a good stretch after leaning over the podium for a while. He ran a finger over the totals and smiled. “Numbers are good, and the women will be happy.” Deciding to stretch his legs, he closed up the ledgers, and leaned down to put them away. Opening the cabinet, he worked to open the safe, peering in to make sure they were put in completely. He stopped for a second and blinked. “Is something in here?” He said quietly to himself as he stopped for a moment.

\----------

All afternoon Red gently snored away, sleeping off the alcohol and dreaming of even more. Eventually he’d need food as well, but for now alcohol was good enough. The opening of the cupboard temporarily disturbed him, but he quickly turned over, looking away from the light to go back to sleep. Humans never paid attention to the dark corners. He’d be fine. He hadn’t been noticed the past two times, he was safe. That was until he heard the whisper and glanced over his shoulder to see the man looking directly at him. Well shit. Scrambling to get his sneakers under him, he grabbed his coat and bolted for the back of the cupboard to try to hide behind the safe. There was no way he was losing this gig. No way!

\----------

A mouse? A bug? Something must have climbed in when he opened the cabinet to get the ledgers. He stood back up and grabbed for his phone, and started to fumble through the apps for his flashlight. Tapping the app symbol, the LED on the back lit up. “Let’s see now.” Crouching down to get a better view, he adjusted the phone and flooded the cabinet to see what was around, if he did not scare it away.

\----------

Red saw the flood of light washing over where he had been before and quietly cursed to himself. This had been a nice spot too. Quiet, hidden, and he’d already gotten rid of the bugs and cleared it cobwebs and other shit. Sure there was dirt, but he was well used to that. Stepping further back behind the safe just to be sure, he glared at the light. Lucky he was a light sleeper or he’d probably be hanging by the foot right now. Damn humans.

\----------

Kitsu looked around at the newly illuminated space, moving the light side to side as he pondered on what had been seen. He reached in and pushed against the safe. Was nice and secure. He lifted the lid of the safe and peered inside, moving his hand about the inside of the container to see if anything had creeped into it somehow. Nothing as well. “Hmm, probably just a pest. I will make sure the women keep an eye on the rooms for anything.” He reached up to grab the ledgers, and slide them into the safe. He dropped the lid, and locked it securely. Standing up and glancing at the time, he decided to go get a broom and do a sweep up of the hallways. Turning on his heels, he slid his phone into his pocket and started to enjoy his music once again as he vacated the area for a moment.

\----------

Once the cupboard was closed and darkness fell again, Red sighed. That had been too close. Checking the area behind the safe, he grumbled. It was slimmer and when the safe was open, not nearly tall enough. He’d had to make a dive to avoid the lip when it had opened earlier. Maybe this wasn’t such a great hiding spot. Hearing the man leave, Red slipped on his jacket and pushed his way out of the cupboard in search of someplace else. The desk was way too active. Of the hallways afforded him, he chose the one opposite of what the man had chosen, rushing around the corner in case he returned. This place was way too open and had way too few places to hide. At least there were no bugs out here though. 

Coming upon only doors and more doors, he sighed. What was he supposed to do with all this? He was still tipsy from his binge earlier in the morning, so teleportation was out. Shaking his head and taking his time, he continued to look for someplace that might work for him to hide himself during the working hours.

\----------

The soft sound of a broom sweeping across the floor filled the nearby corridors as Kitsu made sure to sweep up any dust and debris departures may have tracked last night, including the beetle that was found behind his desk. As he swept all of it into the pile, he looked at the beetle again. Leaning on his broom his mind started to think for a few minutes. ‘Even with the building being built into a hill, pests and bugs are very rare to find within The Den.’ He thought to himself. That coupled with the mess in the bar, and the whatever it was in the podium, made his mind ponder if there was any connection for some reason. 

He remembered a news article from a few months back he had caught wind of, thanks to one of his women. It said that some kind of eruption or disturbance had occurred a good distance away from <city name>, and slight strange occurrences had been happening, but none around here. Could they all be connected somehow? His mind thought on it for another minute, before he rubbed his eyes and started to retrieve a dust pan from the closet he got the broom from. ‘I will make sure to call a small meeting before we open tonight.’ He reminded himself, before losing himself in his music once again. 

\----------

Looking behind him, Red hissed. Why all the doors when the humans chose to share the space, he couldn’t understand. Checking under one, he groaned. They were thick too. He wouldn’t be able to bore a hole through with just his claws, that was for sure. He’d checked every door on this side of the desk and all of them had been firmly closed. He’d have to try the other side and hope for more luck and that he wouldn’t be seen. Making his way back toward the way he’d come, he kept listening for how close the human was. There was a buzzing as well, which the human occasionally seemed to hum along to, so Red could only assume that they liked the strange static noise.

Peeking around the corner, Red quickly stepped back into the hallway. Their back was to him, but he really didn’t want to chance being seen. Another peek showed them just standing there, staring into space while leaning on that long pole thing. Having had a few rides on them out of more than one bar in the few towns that had been close to where he had left the underground, he was in no hurry to have another. While the human was distracted, he made a run for his cupboard. Until he found someplace better, this would have to do.

\---------

The piles of debris were quickly swept up and disposed of, the floor looking better with every pass. The place had to be clean and neat, and Kitsu made sure to keep it as close to that as possible. He jumped lightly as the music in his ears changed to a ringing sound, the ringing of his phone. He picked up the call as he was closing the closet, and leaned against the closed door. “Hello, Kitsu speaking…” The caller was the bar owner asking him to come out to the bar for a moment. There was no issue on Kitsu’s part, but wanted to check in because of the mess that he found. Making sure the closet was closed, he pocketed his earbuds and strolled back through the lobby and the curtains.

\----------

Growling when he heard the human start to talk to himself, Red shook his head, There was nobody else here but himself and he knew they weren’t talking to him. When they started to head out toward the bar though, he took the chance to hop back out of the cupboard and rush to check if any of the other rooms were open and possibly giving him a place away from that blasted desk to hide. He really didn’t want to be stuck there, not after already being spotted once.

This hall was no better. He could tell before even going down that every door was shut, but he still rushed down it, checking for any cracked door that maybe he missed, any hole in the barriers, some way to give him an out. It quickly became apparent that only luck had gotten him this far and into this particular area twice. It was blocked off on every side. He would be in real trouble if he missed his chance to get out when everyone left in the morning. By then he would definitely need food and wouldn’t mind getting some more alcohol either.

\---------

The meeting with the bar owner was a little bit heated, which Kitsu did not blame him for being that way. With several bottles of alcohol emptied, glassware broken, and profits spilled all over the floor, he had every right to be mad, luckily none of it was focused on Kitsu, he just needed someone to vent to. Kitsu offered to help with the cleanup, so for around thirty minutes they worked to get all of the mess taken care of. Once the task was done, Kitsu was thanked for his informing of the mess and helping to clean it up. With a handshake and a nod between them, he made his way back into The Den.

Glancing at the time again, he decided it would be a good chance to refill the rooms before the women arrived. Retrieving his notepad, a pencil, and his keys, plus stowing away the remainder of his food in the cabinet in his podium, he started at the first door he came to, unlocking it and entering. It was not anything over the top, but it had a comfortable feel to it, all with a higher class appearance. Curtains of fine fabrics, plush yet firm couches, handcrafted oak wood tables and cabinets. Out of everything in The Den, these pieces of decorum helped to bring back customers, well besides the women that is. Making his earlier mental notes into physical notes, he retrieved a small tray, a lighter, and a stick of incense. Setting it up on a table and lighting the stick, he let the room fill with a pleasant smell, as he left, leaving the door cracked so he could enter with the new supplies with little hassle. One by one, he went back through the rooms, performing the almost ritualistic process.

\----------

Growling to himself in the cabinet, Red punched the walls a few times for good measure as he heard the human going in and out of room that he couldn’t get into or out of. Damn humans and their damn obsession with doors. A wave of exhaustion hit him again, the alcohol and morning of running around and paranoia of dodging the lone human male catching up with him. Weakly punching the wall one more time, Red stumbled behind the safe once more and wedged himself between it and the back wall to try to get some sleep. Maybe he could score some food when he woke up.

\----------

With the rooms now restocked and the incense lit, everything seemed to be in order for another night of business. Just as Kitsu closed the last room back up and prepared to go get himself ready, he turned into a small group of 5 women, The Den’s women. Pleasantries were exchanged and they all entered the changing room together. Once inside, Kitsu gave them a run down on requests, to which they all were ecstatic to hear, giving their thanks. He then reaffirmed that the mess in the bar was not present when they all left, and said to keep an eye out for anything strange. They all nodded in agreement. With that out of the way, everyone dressed themselves, put on their masks, and proceeded to prepare for the beginning of the night.

As they left the dressing room, the sleeve of Kitsu’s azure top was snagged by someone. He turned to see another of his workers mask staring back at him. She was just under his height, clothed in a red and black kimono, with gold trim on the sleeves and collar, and her blonde hair was tied back in 2 seperate ponytails. “Kitsu…” She muttered from behind her mask.

“Yes, Angela?” He responded from behind his own mask.

“Thanks for taking our requests. I...appreciate it!” She blurted out.

He smiled behind his mask and nodded, “You all have been doing great as of late with business, only fair I reward you all.”

She nodded back and slid by Kitsu, “Oh...one more thing...you mentioned strange occurrences? Be careful, I can sense something in the town, but I do not know what. Figured to just let you know as well.” She bowed as she finished her statement, and walked off to her room. “I almost forgot she has some ability to sense spirits and the supernatural…” He shook off the notion, and made his way back to his podium, ready to receive the night’s guests.

\----------

A random strike to the opposite side of the wall woke Red, making him grunt. “Yeah Boss, I’m gettin’ up. I’ll be down shortly. Don’t start yer shoutin’, please.” He mumbled as he pushed himself off the floor. He must have fallen out of bed in the night again. He couldn’t remember the nightmares this time, thankfully. Stumbling down his hallway yawning, he wondered why it was so dark and when he’d gotten a hall in his room. Tripping over something on the floor, he stumbled into the door, falling right out into a large bright space and down the few inches to the floor. Well now he was awake and he was definitely not at home. Seeing a large boot less than two feet away and the slam of the cupboard just above and behind him, he swore. “Fucking shit in an asscrack.”

\----------

“Is this acceptable to you sir?” Kitsu, conducting business as usual, asked the gentleman. With a nod and a handshake, Kitsu gestured to a taller masked woman standing next to the podium. She bowed and started to lead the gentleman away. He reached down to pick up a briefcase he had brought with him, but as he shifted, his foot knocked it over with a thud against the podium. The man apologized, but Kitsu just raised his palm and shook his head, “No need to apologize, nothing harmed. Please enjoy your time in The Den.” He finished his statement with a bow, and the pair walked 0off down the hallway. Kitsu documented the client, and moved around the front of the podium, just to make sure nothing was damaged.

\----------

Scrambling to get back on his feet, Red clawed at the door, prying it open and hauling himself up. It was only about three or four inches, but in a rush it seemed like a lot more. He really needed to be more aware of his surroundings. Finally up, he gave a yelp as the door caught his leg for the second time in two days. That thing had it out for him, he’d have to put something in the way to keep him from breaking a leg or worse, his skull.

\----------

Kitsu ran a hand over the wood of the podium, no damage thankfully. Relieved, he straightened himself, and moved back to his original spot. As he came around, he noticed the cabinet door at the base was ajar. “Must have popped open with the thud.” Using his foot, he closed the door again, and resumed recording information.

A buzz came through a small speaker in his mask. Tapping a button on the podium, he activated the microphone in his mask. “Kitsu speaking.”

“Kitsu, can you bring back the backup card reader, mine isn’t scanning again.”

“Sure, Ayano. Give me a moment.” He cut the transmission, and reached for his keys. Turning away he opened a hidden cabinet, and pulled out a credit card reader, plus a small standing sign. Placing the sign on the podium, to alert anyone that he would return shortly, he stepped out from behind his spot, and into the hallway, making his way to Ayano’s room.

\----------

In his dark space, Red shivered, hissed, and cursed. He’d been bracing the door open a sliver so he could check the damage on his leg when it had been forced shut roughly. Easily a sprain in the wrist and his leg was definitely bruised now, if it hadn’t been before. He could tell it wasn’t broken though. Also, apparently things were still active and busy. He wasn’t going anywhere soon and who knew how far the human had gone now. Retreating into the shadows a bit more, he growled into the darkness, eyelights bright as ever as he settled to wait for everyone to leave. He’d try to find a better sleeping spot tonight, maybe out in the bar proper there was something he had missed.

Minutes passed in silence until something above him shifted making him jump and fill the ceiling and surrounding walls with a slew of bones. Only one hit anything, a long dead spider carcass in a high corner. They did light the area up a little though and allowed him to notice a bag had been put on top of the metal safe. Going around the back, he grabbed onto the hinges and hauled himself, growling through the pain. 

Digging through the bag, Red immediately forgot about his pain. There was a smorgasbord here for him to dig through. Meats, cheeses, plant stuffs which he pegged at the door, and score, a water bottle. That would help with the dryness the alcohol binge last night left. There was bread too, but he wasn’t too worried about that. It alway got stuck in his fangs and he’d once lost his gold tooth in some. That was the last time he’d touched the stuff. A bit of further digging unearthed some packaged condiments. Slicing open the tops of a few he found only sweet ketchup and slimy mayo. Gagging, he dug into his meat and cheese find. Halfway through pulling it from between the bread, he noticed another packet with different coloring. He finished his separation of food and grabbed the packet, slicing it open before dancing with joy, almost slipping off the box. He’d scored mustard. The only thing better than alcohol.

Sitting down to enjoy his large meal, he hummed random strings of songs to himself and alternated between eating and drinking from the water bottle and mustard packet. Maybe the human wasn’t so bad. They left good food laying around at least.

\----------

After a quick swap of the readers, Kitsu confirmed it was working, and politely excused himself from Ayano’s room. He carried the reader back to the cabinet he retrieved the replacement device from, and after locking it back up, along with the away sign, He retrieved the items he had stashed away, and recomposed himself. Well almost. A slight growling from his stomach emerged, and he rubbed his stomach. Realizing he had not eaten in a while, he decided to grab a quick snack from his lunch. A bag of chips should suffice.

Kneeling down, he opened up the cabinet of his podium, only to be greeted by a horrific sight. The inside of the cabinet door was completely covered by food stuffs! “What the hell!?” Frantically, he grabbed his phone, and turned on the flashlight. Peering into the space, he saw it was a total mess inside, and right there on top of his safe was...well something...and it was eating a mustard packet…

The look on his face behind the mask was one of confusion, and shock. He kept the light focused in the direction of the thing on the safe, and without thinking, made a grab for it.

\----------

Scrapping the last of the mustard from the packet, Red hummed and nearly choked when the door to his sanctuary opened and a bright light shined in. Momentarily blinded, he raised a hand to shield his eyes and just in time saw the hand about to grab him. Pushing himself to his feet, on hand firmly grabbing a hunk of the meat he’d been working threw, he bit the hand, drawing blood, and jumped from the safe. It was time to run, he’d been spotted. The meat ripped as he fell, so he only got a few scraps, but it was better than nothing. Shoving it in his mouth, he ran for the open door. Maybe he could out maneuver the human. Some of them were slow.

Hitting the ground hard, he hissed at the pain in his leg but kept moving. Immediately he darted towards the closest hallway. Doors had been opening and closing, maybe there was an open one he could dodge into. In the back of his mind, he had to admit that at least he’d had a good meal before having to run again.

\----------

‘OK so maybe frantically reaching for whatever pest it had been was not the smartest idea’ Was the first thought going through his head as he recalled his hand in pain, falling backwards for a moment. Whatever it was, it had some sharp fangs, and his hand was bleeding thanks to it. He watched it run away around the corner as he worked to get back up. “Wait, that thing is running on two limbs? What in the...arrrg.” his thought was interrupted as the pain shot through his hand from the wound. It was not a deep wound, but enough to be an issue. He would have to head to the doctor later in the day, but for now, his only thought was on the safety of his workers and clients. Finally able to get to his feet, he pressed another button on the podium, and his mic sprang to life. “Ladies, do not open doors or leave your rooms. More details...arg...will come later.” With his message sent, he started to head down the hallway, looking for the pest, as well as some cloth to make a bandage.

\----------

Seeing every door shut, Red growled to himself and kept pushing himself, there were some potted plants that if he was lucky, the human might not spot him with. A couple steps saw him tripping over his own feet, cursing the pain in his leg. Maybe it was worse than a bruise. Pushing himself back up he limped toward the closest one. It had some big leaves and a large pot. If he could evade the guard, maybe he could use one of the leaf stems as a brace. They way it hurt, he’d almost certainly fractured a fibula. It was small, so the multiple strikes against it wouldn’t surprise him too much with a break. 

Slipping behind the pot, he realized there was definitely too much space and light to be able to efficiently hide. Gimpily, he hobbled to the next one down. It was a lot smaller but was recessed into the wall a bit so he figured he’d try here. Worst it could do is not work and he’d be running again. All he had to do for now was outwit the humans until closing. He’d been so stupid to just be sitting there in plain sight.

\---------- 

Kitsu moved swiftly down the hall, his eyes darting around. He had no idea where the thing went, he just hoped it was not in an occupied room. He turned a corner, eager to pursue, until he heard something in his mask earpiece. It was the sound of a buzzer, more so the door alert buzzer. “Fuck…” He turned to head back, but not before moving a vase from a nearby table, and picking up the handkerchief-style mat it sat on. “I’ll handle this later.” Tying it around his hand, he proceeded to move back to his post.

\----------

From his hidden spot, Red sighed. They gave up easily. Looking up at the plant he was hidden behind he grinned and putting most of his weight on his good hand, pulled himself up and into the dirt of the pot and started to try to shimmy up it. If he could hide in the body of the leaves, then doofus at the front shouldn’t find him. Once he was in the depths of the foliage, he cut one of the small leaf branches and shredded a few strands of fiber, checked his fibula. Yep, definitely broken. Using the branch and fibers, he secured it and let the leaf drop, only after realizing that it was a dead giveaway of his position. “Shit.” Sliding back down and hopping out of the pot, he headed for a vase on the other side of the hall. Everything was too open here. Behind the vase he found a spider which he finished off quickly and stayed away from its twitching carcass. It had been a big one. Resting against the wall, he tried to keep his weight off the injured leg. Definitely no alcohol tonight and he would, without a doubt, have to find a new hiding spot.

\----------

Kitsu did a quick wrap of his hand as he walked, making sure that the obvious wound was not bleeding through. He rounded the corner, just as another customer passed through the curtain. He glanced at the male and gave his usual line as he repositioned himself behind his podium. “Welcome, sir. You have found your way into The Den this evening. What sort of comfort do you seek?” The man strolled up, and after a brief conversation, Kitsu gave a nod, and pressed his contact button. “Angela, you have been summoned. Just watch yourself, and keep your door closed.” The second part he whispered into his mic.

Midway down the hall, just before the corner where Kitsu had turned back, a door slid open, and closed again quickly. Angela, clad in her black and red kimono and mask, scurried down the hall to meet her new guest. She entered into the foyer and bowed, politely greeting the man. With a confirming nod of approval, she turned to offer her arm to the client. As she turned to walk with him back to her room, she stopped noticing the wrapping around Kitsu’s hand. “Excuse me one moment please, sir.” She quickly requested, making a gesture at the wrapping. The man kindly let her check on Kitsu, stepping over and looking at the make-shift bandage. “What happened?” she asked nervously.

“A vase broke and I cut my hand. Nothing major.”

She leaned in, whispering, “Let me check that later, I feel something coming from it, ok?”

Kitsu nodded, though his face was a bit more nervous now. Thankfully his mask kept his expression hidden. He cleared his throat, and looked to the client. “Very sorry, sir. She just wanted to make sure I was ok.” The man shook his head, telling them to not worry about it, he understood how a worker would want to check on another coworker that was injured. Angela moved back over offered her arm again, and led the man to her room. Kitsu looked down at his hand, and gulped, not knowing if he was afraid of the stitches he may need, or the fact Angela detected something on it.

\----------

When the girl left her room, Red saw his opportunity. Maybe she hadn’t closed the door all the way. The man seemed hesitant to enter the rooms, so maybe he was afraid of the women, which meant Red should be too, but heck with it, he needed a place to rest. Limping over as fast as he could, his shoulders quickly slumped. It was still closed tight. Looking up and down the hall, he made a split second decision. He wouldn’t make it out here, that much was obvious, and the man was distracted at the moment. Moving back towards the front area, he peeked around the corner to find the woman checking where he had bitten the guy. Served him right. 

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he bolted between them for his cupboard, not breathing for fear of making any sound at all. The guy hadn’t noticed him the first few times, hopefully he wouldn’t this time either. Pushing the door open, he hauled himself up and into the dark space, pulling his legs in quickly after him and being careful to not let the door slam this time. Before he got caught again, he hobbled to the back corner. Before sitting down, he crawled on top of the safe and nabbed the remaining meat and the mustard packet. There was still some in there. Getting back to the floor, he put himself in the corner. For now he could stretch and relax, but if he had to, he could hide behind the safe. It was too far in for the human to get him, he hoped.

\----------

The rest of the night went smoothly. No more pest sightings thankfully, and plenty of satisfied customers. With no active patrons, and closing time approaching, Kitsu decided to close up a little early. It would give him a chance to clean his wound and let Angela take a look, for what he did not know. It would also allow him to clean the cabinet in his podium, after the mess that thing made. His hand throbbed just thinking about it. After setting up a closed sign, he made his way to the changing room.

Once inside he stripped off his mask and top, placing them inside of his locker. Slowly unwrapping the bandage, he winced at the pain of the cloth being pulled away from the wound. Entering an adjacent bathroom, he grabbed a bottle of hand soap and started to wash his hands in the sink, scrubbing the bite mark. It stung, but as long as the wound was clean. He would go to a doctor tomorrow and have it checked. He grabbed at a towel and walked back into the locker room as he dried his hands.

Ayano and Angela were both putting their outfits and mask away as Kitsu entered again. They both turned to face Kitsu, gesturing for him to sit on a chair, and show them his hand. Ayano pulled out a first aid kit and started to remove ointment and actual bandages, all the while Angela, looked over the wound carefully. “So, you said you felt something from the wound?”

“Yes, some kind of unnatural energy...it is only a latent trace, but it is definitely there. DId you get a look at what bit you?”

Ayano rejoined them and knelt down to apply some antibiotic ointment, “Sounds like something out of a fantasy game, if you ask me...only, well, real. Is it ok to wrap up his hand?”

Angela nodded, “Go ahead. All I know is whatever bit him, was not your average pest, and by the mark, it has some really sharp teeth.” She helped to keep his arm up, while Ayano wrapped the bandage around his hand. He let out a slight ouch at the tightness of it, but he still thanked them for taking care of it. The other women joined them a short time later, all very concerned over the declaration earlier in the night, and then finding that Kitsu was injured. After an explanation, they all agreed to keep their eyes open and to be safe. No one wanted to be injured after all. With that all out of the way. Everyone started to pack up, all except for Kitsu, who grabbed a bucket and a sponge, preparing to clean out his podium. Hopefully it wouldn't take a long time to clean and then he could get some extra rest, before the doctor.

Kitsu escorted the women to the main entrance of The Den, waving good night to them as they departed. They offered to stay and keep him company, but he kindly refused, telling them they should go get some rest. Once everyone had left, he made his way back to the podium, where a bucket of soap and water, plus a sponge and towel all sat. He just sighed for a moment at the fact he came in early and had to stay late. After the day he had, he could have used some rest. But he also did not want any smell coming from his podium. Moving to sit on the floor, he slid on a rubber glove to cover his hand, and proceeded to dunk and ring out the sponge in the water, before reaching to open up the cabinet.

\----------

Red had slipped into a light doze as he waited for the rest of the night to pass, pleasantly full from his meal. The pain from his leg only grew as the night went on and any shift aggravated it, making it hard to sleep. He snorted, catching a stray piece of dust in his nasal ridge justa as the door was pulled open. Scrapping a hand at his face to pull away the suffocating puff of dust, he pulled himself behind the safe, a string of obscenities flying from his mouth as his sleep ridden bones sent spikes of pain as well as pins and needles all throughout his mind. All that running had not been good for the bone. A fracture that would normally take a few days to heal would now take almost a month and that was if he stayed off it. 

\----------

He stopped for a moment as he opened the cabinet door. Did he just hear something? Yeah, yeah he did. He stopped for a moment and reached for his phone. Using it as a flashlight, he shined it into the opening, adjusting it to keep the space fully illuminated, so he could see anything inside of it. Nothing right now, except for the bag that was his lunch, and the mess whatever the thing was had made. Placing the sponge down for a moment, he reached in with the rubber glove covered hand, and retracted the bag. Once removed and put on the side, he noticed something: A pair of beady red eyes peering from behind the safe at him.

\----------

Red glared at the human. Yeah, the guy knew he was here, no point in hiding that anymore. Flipping him the bird and baring his teeth, he ducked back behind the safe. He felt his message was clear enough. Leave him the fuck alone. It was bad enough the guy was lighting the space, which just made how grungy it was quite clear as all the dirt met light, but it also was disturbing Red’s sleep. Other than the dust ball, he’d been having a slightly pleasant daydream.

\----------

Kitsu had gotten a look at the thing before it ducked down behind his floor safe. Rude little thing that was for sure, and definitely had the sharp teeth that Angela had mentioned. The thing is though...was not like anything he would normally see...this had a higher intelligence than a normal pest obviously. Whatever it was...he had to be careful. Especially since he had it cornered. Should he make a grab for it again? He had the glove on, so hopefully it could mute the bite. Then again if it could understand him…

“Ok, whatever you are, come out before I need to remove you myself.” He said with a stern tone, yet a smile on his face.

\----------

“Fuck off. You ain’t using the space.” Red called back, shifting himself more to the center of the box so he couldn’t be reached from either side.

\----------

“I’m afraid I have this space long before you showed up, so as far as I am concerned, you are trespassing.” Kitsu fired back calmly, his voice not going any real volume.

\----------

Red huffed, but had to agree, the guy was right, but seriously, he wasn’t using the space. It was full of dust and he’d had to drive spiders out. Obviously it was vacant. “I ain’t hurtin’ nothing by stayin’ here. What’s your problem?”

\----------

“Hurting anything? You ravaged my lunch, messed up this cabinet, bit me, and potentially interrupted business. You being here has caused a bit of an issue so far I would say.” Kitsu continued with a calm but stern voice. “The only ones allowed to be here are myself, the women, and our clients. Not some freeloading...whatever you are.”

\----------

Sighing heavily and rolling his eyes, Red groaned as he pushed himself up to his good foot and limped to the edge of the safe. “Grab me again and I’ll bite ya again. You want me gone that much, fine. I’ll find somewhere else to crash. Booze were nice, but not for this much trouble. And for the record, I’m a monster. Don’t forget it.” He waited for a response before emerging. He really didn’t want to chance being grabbed again.

\----------

“So you’re the one who made a mess out in the bar?” Kitsu adjusted his sitting posture, blocking the opening as much as he could and preventing ease of escape for this “monster”. He also adjusted the heavy rubber glove with a small snap. This thing had some questions to answer before Kitsu even thought about letting him go.

\----------

“The mess wasn’t my intention, but yeah, that was on me. Oops. Now look, I’ll talk to ya if that’s what you want. I’ll leave if that’s what you want, or I’ll just stay back here. I don’t care, but make up your mind. My leg is killing me and I’d rather be sittin’ if it’s all the same.” Red sighed. He knew when he was beaten. He’d had to deal with it often enough with his brother and the doggi guards back underground.

\----------

“If I was going to remove you, I would have, but I believe in trying to talk when the moment presents itself. Considering I now know what I am dealing with. You can sit on the safe for now.” Kitsu made a hand gesture towards the safe. There had to be a reason for why he was here, but the interruptions were something that could not be overlooked. “So what exactly are you doing here?”

\----------

Growling, Red carefully hauled himself back to the top of the safe and limped to the front, sitting so his legs could hang down. “I’m just here for the booze. Heard through the gutter that some of the best stuff could be found here along with a pretty face. Faces are nice an all, but none that would ever smile for me, not how I want. I left those faces a long time ago. I ain’t here to fuck up your biz, no worries there pops.” He leaned back on his good wrist, staring up at the human and got his first really look at the man. He’d never been this close to one or had the chance or inclination to study one.

\----------

“So you heard about the booze, and some pretty faces, and you showed up here. Where did you even come from though, never known a creature like you to exist.” Kitsu eased his posture, but he was still prepared if any issue arose. He leaned his arm on the bucket next to him as he sat.

\----------

Scratching his head only to flinch from his wrist, Red sighed. “I think the local humans called the mountain range we were stuck under the Alps or something. Real weird name. Got outta there and left my people far behind. I was done with that shit. Hell with them. Been out for a month or two just trying to find a place to try to settle. ‘Cordin’ to you, this ain’t gonna be it, so guess I move onto the next town. Name’s Red by the way.” He eyed the bucket, now seeing that it was full of water. He really hoped the human hadn’t planned on trying to drown him. That was a nasty way to go.

\----------

Kitsu listened to the monster, well Red’s story. He recalled again about some disturbances in the Alps months ago, and strange occurrences soon after. It was either Red or maybe more monsters had escaped like he did. Right now though his only focus was on Red. “So you escaped during the ‘disturbance’ in the Alps and have been moving around on your own for a few months, eventually ending up here because of the rumors of good vices? And that all of the disturbances you have caused were unintentional?”

\----------

“I’m not looking to be noticed if that’s your question. If I caused a disturbance, oh well. I wasn’t the only one to bolt when the barrier got lifted though. None of us liked being trapped in the pit.” He shrugged, “but yeah, I’m just here for the vices. Alcohol and mustard are the best things in the world for me and this place has at least one of the two easily accessible, if a bit too far from the floor.”

\----------

Barriers. Monsters. Strange happenings. He would be talking to Angela tomorrow for sure. “I see. Though you are a bit of a rude one, I can tell you really are not a bad per...monster. But the fact still remains that you did cause harm to me and disrupted business a little bit, not to mention that you also stole alcohol and slightly vandalized the bar.” He started to drum his fingers on the wood of the podium as he was thinking. Kitsu felt that Red needed to make up somewhat for what he had done, but he also understood a bit of what happened. “Hmmm…”

\----------

Red huffed. “You only got hurt cause you tried to grab me. That shit is on you. As for the bar, fine, I took some booze and made a mess. Whoop dee do. Not like I can carry those large wads of paper or coins you humans love, or even those giant plastic cards. I only went for the bottles that were under half empty. Also, if you would have left me alone, your business wouldn't have had any disruption, so that nullifies two of your arguments.” If he hadn’t been caught, he wouldn’t be in this damn situation.

\----------

“I can accept the fact that you bit me as on me, but since I chased you and had to bandage this, I had to leave my post. Had to make sure you were not going to bite my workers or clients, even if they had been warned via intercom to not open up until further notice. I almost missed a client. Plus regardless, even half bottles have a value to a bar’s bottom line. Even if you twist it back on me, you still have a fault to own up to, Red. Because even if I look past all of those issues, you're still trespassing and stealing...” As he finished his sentence, he had a small idea pop into his head. One that could at least keep this issue, under wraps for the time being. And a slight smile crossed his face.

\----------

Growling Red wasn’t happy with things still resting on him. Then the smile came and he felt even worse. “Why don’t I like the look of that face?” He asked, starting so shift back, trying to subliminally move his good leg under himself so he could bolt for the back of the cupboard.

\---------

“Here’s what I am thinking Red...and I will make you a deal...You clean up the mess you made here inside of my podium, and you can stay here at least until tomorrow. If you do, maybe we can work something out, but if I come back and it is still a mess...then you can keep roaming town to town. What do you say, Red?”

\----------

Pausing in his retreat, Red thought. “You serious? Not gonna rat me out or try to turn me over to whatever?” Sure he hated cleaning, but cleaning for a free room and time to run or stay. He could do that. Plus he had his condition to take into account. “You got a deal, but let me guess, no raiding allowed either?” Not that he could in his condition anyway.

\---------

“I will pretty much be closing the door and keeping you confined in here, so you can clean.” Kitsu reached into the bag from his lunch, withdrawing some napkins, as well as a packet of mustard that had not been ravaged. He placed them inside of the cabinet. “Here use these to clean, and since you like mustard, have a snack. Like I said, I can let you stay for now, and when I come in tomorrow we will see what happens then, agreed?”

\----------

“Fine. Gimme a bit of that sponge as well so I can clean up the dust. Don’t need to be kicked out for it not being the best I can provide an all that cutesy shit.” He made a grabbing motion towards the bucket and moved back to the front of the safe, dropping so he was hanging by one hand then to the floor of the cupboard on just his good foot, favoring the broken leg heavily. Limping over to the packets, he quickly shredded the top of one with his claws and took a hard pull off of it, licking over his teeth to get whatever remained there. “Not great, but still, it’s mustard.”

\----------

Kitsu reached behind him, opening up the hidden cabinet from before and pulling out some scissors. Cutting a few small pieces off of the sponge, he placed them down as well. Leaving Red to clean his mess would allow him to get some rest, plus do some research and see a doctor before returning later in the day. “There, enough to make sure it is all cleaned up. All right then?”

\----------

“Yeah yeah, scram and do your human things. I’ll see you tomorrow if I decide to stay.” Red waved him off before limping over to one of the bits of sponge and taking it into the corner, figuring to work back to front and then up the walls. He’d be here all night, but at least he wasn’t being kicked out yet. It was better than he’d expected. The cleaner on the sponge wasn’t bad either, reminded him of the spruce and holly back home.

\----------

“Well now, if that makes you all set. I will leave you be then. Do a good job now, Red.” He nodded his head and smiled again, as he reached up to pull himself to his feet. Once he was standing, he reached down once more and closed up the cabinet door, closing it completely, and sealing him inside. He let out a sign and gathered up his things. This was definitely going to be something that would take some thinking and researching. He took one last look at the cabinet door and shrugged. “One day at a time, I guess…” With that, he made his way through the curtain and towards the bar so he could head home.

\----------

“Patronizing prick.” Red mumbled before getting to work. He had a lot to do. When the fumes began to get too much he tried to open the door, only to find it jammed. “Just fucking great. I’m gonna be high by morning.” He sighed to himself and got back to work. He would scrub an area with the sponge bits and use the napkins to dry the areas after. The hard part was the walls that he had pegged with the vegetables as he had struck points higher than he could reach. Testing his magic, he could confirm that it was stable and not being affected by the alcohol anymore. Summoning a blaster, he used it as a seat and got a lift up the walls and did spot cleaning on the areas that seemed to need it the most. It was tempting to blow up the door as well, but he decided not to.

Deducting that everything was finally done hours later and not sure if his tiredness stemmed from the fumes or the work, he teleported out of the cupboard and onto the counter in the main bar, remembering that the human had come in this way the day before. Grabbing a left out packet of mayo, he set himself up with it as a pillow and laid back to rest and wait, dozing off an on. He wasn’t staying stuck in a fume box for that long. Shows that guy what he knows about locking him up.

\----------


	2. Chapter 2

The previous night had taken a bit of a toll on Kitsu, especially with the fact that a “monster” had shown up in his place of business, causing a small problem as well as injuring Kitsu. Luckily for him the bite on his hand was not serious. He walked out of the local clinic, his hand now wrapped with a clean bandage, and some stronger antibiotic had been applied. The bite was not infected with anything serious, but there was some, probably due to what the creature known as “Red” had just eaten before. Yeah, he knew it was his own fault for getting himself bit, but if Red had not devoured his lunch and made a mess of his podium, well he would not have tried to grab him. ‘Oh well,’ he thought to himself as he stared at the bandage.

With the doctor out of the way, he strolled his way through the busy streets of [city name], working his way to a small coffee shop along the main street. He had to meet up with someone, and did not want to be late. Though the fact of his doctor visit was a valid reason for a delay. After a few minutes of enjoying the late springtime air, he finally reached the coffee shop. It was a simple storefront, adorned with lanterns, a folding sign detailing the sales, and a doorway whose top half was covered by two curtains, a traditional japanese restaurant style of display. Parting the curtains with his good hand, he slipped inside the building.

\----------

Waking up halfway through the day with a killer headache and his leg itching and burning like hell, Red cursed and prayed for it to stop. He knew he’d gotten some of the cleaner on himself, it couldn’t be helped. Apparently it had made it into his marrow-stream. He lost consciousness multiple times as he fought through the pain. It wasn’t like he had healing magic that he could use on himself or pain killers. When he started seeing things, he tried to get away only to fall off the high counter top. The new breaks had him blacking out again for a while. The next time he came to, he struggled into what he thought was a corner, trying to escape all the hands and claws that tried to grab at him. He just wanted the pain and visions to stop.

\----------

The coffee shop was busy, but Kitsu found his meet up, in a quiet corner. Clad in a light shirt and a knee-length skirt was Angela. On his way to the doctor, he had messaged her saying he wanted to talk to her about this whole thing. He casually strolled up and stopped next to her. Waving his bandaged hand politely, he smiled at her. “Hey.”

Angela looked up from her book, with a smile.” How’s the hand?”

“Slightly infected, but overall, not bad at all” He sat down across from her and presented his hand. “Just need to keep it bandaged and use antibiotic ointment.” She took his hand into hers and pulled it closer for inspection. “It is going to be hurting for a bit, but some painkillers will help with that.”

“Hmm, that is good that it is nothing serious.” Angela turned his hand as she spoke, looking over it inquisitively. “Medicine can help with the physical wound, but it is still traced with strange energy.”

She let go of Kitsu’s hand and he folded it back into the elbow he was leaning on. “The good news is that it has not increased in strength or area, but it also does not seem to have muted itself either.” She got a worried look on her face, “It’s a foreign energy I do not know and that always is a worry.”

Kitsu nodded in agreement. “I understand that, but that is kinda why I called you to talk.”

Angela closed her book, a puzzled look on her face. “Oh?” She cocked a slight smile at him. “And here I thought it was a date?” She let out a chuckle, and a small blush crossed Kitsu’s face. It was not that he had a thing for her, it was more out of surprise. He had never considered anything about the women that worked for him. The abruptness of her comment hit out of left field.

He smiled at her, “If it was a date, I would have been a lot more specific on location and attire...probably go have you get your dress from The Den.” She smiled warmly, and chuckled again, but then her face went a bit more serious. “Everything aside, what did you want to talk about?”

“So...I stayed behind to clean out my lower cabinet in my podium. The “pest” had made a mess of it. Well when I went to clean, I found it staring back at me from behind the floor safe. It claimed to be a monster, one that escaped from the Alps during that disturbance a few months ago. Looked kind of like a skeleton. He flipped me off and yelled at me. Needless to say, I told him to clean up the place he messed up and I would deal with him tomorrow.”

“So where is he now?”

“Back in the podium, he seemed to be injured, so I doubt he could open the cabinet and escape.”

Angela stared down at her book for a moment. “A monster sealed away in the Alps...very interesting.” Her fingers drummed against the cover of the book, deep in thought. “Why here though...? An omen perhaps? Or maybe a harbinger coming to forewarn us of other monsters? Or...”

Kitsu dropped his head as he interrupted her thought, “He heard there was good booze and cute faces here.”

Angela looked up at him with a confused expression across her face. “Huh? Seriously...he came here for booze and women??”

Kitsu nodded.

“Not for anything else…?”

He nodded again, “Not as far as he has told me. Which was not much to be honest. At that point I was too tired and hurting to get his entire background. Hence why I left him inside of the podium. I can go back with a clearer head and find out more. I also figured that something would peak your interest, so I was wondering if you would like to join me.” 

Angela’s eyes lit up at the request. “A chance to see and talk to a real creature of myth, count me in!” She said cheerfully. “How about I get myself another coffee, and you one if you like, and we can go check out this ‘monster’.”

“Well if you are offering, sure. Black, sugar only.”

She stood up and nodded, heading up to the counter to order their drinks. Kitsu sat there and looked out the window for a moment, before his eyes landed on her book. He reached out and pulled it over to him for a better look. The cover read ‘Europe’s Dark History of Myths, Fables, and Legends’. He smirked, “Not surprising for her. She always did have an interest in things like this. Doesn’t help she is a novice psychic as well.” With that thought, he slid the book back to her side of the table and waited for her to bring them coffee. 

**About half an hour later**

The pair arrived at the rear entrance of the bar. Kitsu inserted the key and after only a few minutes, they were inside. They walked out into the bar proper, and checked about the area. EVerything seemed fine. As they moved into the hallway towards The Den, Kitsu stopped, his ears were picking up something. Something akin to grumbling. Getting within view of the door to The Den, Kitsu’s eyes went wide as he glanced down at a grumbling, confused Red slumped into a corner. “How the…?”

Angela peered around the corner, catching her first glimpse of the monster. Her eyes went wide, and her knees shook in excitement. She could see an actual monster! She went over the stories in her head that she fawned over and wondered how much like them this creature would be. Though she too noticed that he did not seem to be in good shape. She could feel his magic pulsing erratically, and tugged on Kitsu’s shirt. “He’s not good. What should we do?” 

Kitsu looked at his hand, remembering how he could bite if he tried to pick him up. “We need to get him out of the hall, but how can we do it without getting bit?”

An idea came to him. “Hey Angela, go over to the bar and get a plastic pitcher. If we can pick him up using it, we should be able to get away unscathed.”

With a quick nod, she moved back into the bar. Searching behind the bar top, she soon found a full sized plastic pitcher. Grabbing it, she went back to where Kitsu was standing and passed it off. Taking it by the handle, Kitsu started to creep around the corner, moving towards Red. “Red...are you alright?”

\----------

Baring his teeth at the sound, small red bones appeared in front of him, spinning in the air creating a small barrier around him. He was looking somewhere to the left of Kitsu, then snapped his vision to the far right, nothing there but the wall before suddenly stabbing all the bones into some foe that only he could see, biting and growling against the wood.

\----------

Kitsu stopped for a moment, seeing the red bones, and their slightly destructive capabilities. ‘Great...this just got worse…’ He stepped lightly trying to be as quiet as he could. Once he was almost upon Red, he crouched and prepared to scoop him up. This was probably going to be a bit painful for Red, but it was better than leaving him there.

\----------

Growling as he felt the air around him chill, he released his ‘victim’ and turned, limping on his injured leg and holding his arm close. He looked all over, but he didn’t seem to be able to lock on anybody to attack next. He started inching back to put himself in the corner.

\----------

‘Almost...almost...NOW’ With a second of thought, Kitsu swung the pitcher in an upwards sweeping motion right underneath Red. If he did it correctly, he could knock him just off his feet to allow him to slide into the pitcher. He could hear a thump, and a collection of swears coming from the container. He carefully lifted it up to take a glance inside and see if Red was ok.

\----------

Red liquid of some sort dripped from cracks in his exposed leg. Curling up small and covering his head, Red whined. He didn’t know what was real anymore. Was he in a cage, a lab, a bar, a sewer? Was he surrounded or by himself? Was he in danger or already dead? Certainly death couldn’t hurt this much, but then, maybe it could. He curled up tighter, regardless of the fact it hurt. Everything hurt, so what did it matter.

\----------

Being as careful as possible, Kitsu signaled for Angela to move up. He adjusted the pitcher to give her a close up view of Red. He looked pretty rough, that plus he was obviously zoned out. Both of their hearts sank seeing the little guy in this condition. Kitsu handed her his keys and she unlocked The Den’s door for them. The pair moved down the corridor and through the curtains into the foyer. Kitsu looked over at his podium, but right now that was not the focus. They moved into the hall, and entered the first room they came to. 

Once inside, they grabbed a basket, handkerchiefs, and towels, making a soft bedding area on a low table to put Red. Once that was set up, Kitsu slowly and carefully poured the semi-conscious skeleton out gently onto the pile of soft materials, pulling a handkerchief over him as a blanket. He placed down the pitcher, and joined Angela on the couch next to the table.

\----------

Crying out weakly as he was slipped out of the pitcher, he weakly struggled to fight whatever came into contact with him first, that being the materials. Having shredded most of the bedding below his feet and won the battle, he collapsed, groaning in pain before passing out completely, small growls and whines emitting from him intermittently as he breathed and twitched.

His dreams weren’t much better than his waking moments, filled with pain, fighting, betrayal, and starvation, not that he could tell the difference. It was all the same, all hazy and dangerous.

\----------

The pair watched him struggle and then passed out. Kitsu leaned back with a sigh, while Angela leaned forward to get more of a look at Red. “He is an interesting monster...poor thing.” Her voice was filled with sympathy and wonderment. “Was he this bad last night?”

“Far from it, he seemed really spry and awake. His only issue appeared to have been a bad leg. My question is how did he get that far out of the podium? I mean he was on the bar side of the entrance door, and the gap is nowhere enough for him to sneak out.” Kitsu crossed his arms and just looked down at Red. 

Angela continued to stare, though not just interested in the monster. She could sense the same energy coming off of him that came from Kitsu’s hand. Though the energy he was emitting was very unstable and rampant, probably from the pain and whatever else was the issue for him at this point. “Well, he is definitely the one who gave you that hand injury.” She gave a slight smile and leaned back as well. “What do we do now?” She asked.

“Not really sure. Never had to handle something like this before. Guess we just keep an eye on him, and remove this room from active status.”

\----------

Having his skull grabbed and forced into the snow that had accumulated on the desk of his guard station was not how he wanted to wake from his nap, but the laughing yip of the Dog guard that had grabbed him told him fighting back was useless. Doggo was no pushover and delighted in his pranks. That he caught Red sleeping was just his luck. Shaking out his skull to get the ice crystals out from his sockets and nasal ridge.

“Fuck off Doggo. I’m not in the mood.” He growled seconds before his leg was grabbed and he was torn out of his shack roughly and dragged around the local area, roots and stones never giving way as he smacked against them.

Then he was falling and hitting the hardwood of his living room. Fell stood upstairs in the loft of their house glaring at him “I don’t feed you so you can laze around. Get to your post.” He snapped, glaring down at Red before the scene changed again. 

A human had slipped into their hole again. Great plodding thing. Of course the queen had tried to keep it in the large area before the main cave, but they had no interest and left, entering the main land of the monsters. Some monsters would only talk big, but he was expected to actually  _ be _ big and take one of these things out. It was only with practice that he shot a bone through their eye, causing them to scream and fall. Avoiding the thrashing, he made a mess of the ground as he ripped through their throat and stole their Soul before it broke from their chest. Taking a ‘shortcut’ he delivered it to the throne room, keeping his eyes off the king who took it as if he were the one to feel the human it had once belonged to. 

He was dismissed and instantly found himself in his favorite bar, a dark purple fire elemental dishing out booze and food to anybody with the gold to pay. Slipping his two pieces for the week across the counter, he bought a case of mustard and left, hiding the stash in his room so his brother wouldn’t find it. It was better than the booze he would serve at least.

The scene changed again and he found himself surrounded by unfamiliar materials, light and soft, the light above was too bright and the bedding too soft. Pain buzzed in his arm, ribs and leg. His vision was hazy, but he could just make out the things around him, waist high walls, shredded cloths beneath him, something thin and slippery draped over top of him. “What the fuck?” he whispered, pushing himself up with his sprained wrist, the other arm held protectively close. Blinking did little to assist his vision and sitting up made him nauseous, not that he had anything left in his magic. His reserves were running low, he would need to eat soon if he wanted to continue to heal. 

Using his good leg and sprained wrist, hissing at the pressure, he crawled unevenly across the pool of materials to the edge of the wall. The way it creaked, it was obviously some sort of thin wood. If he were at full power he could have blasted through it. Heck, he wouldn’t think to, he’d be able to just jump over or better yet, teleport. None of that was available to him right now. Trying to get his foot under him, he hissed at the strain on the rest of his body but was awarded with a blurry view of what lay beyond the confines of his high walls. It wasn’t promising. A long drop to the floor, if he missed the table top he was obviously on.

\----------

It had been about half an hour since the pair brought Red in and laid him so he could rest. Angela sat in the room and read, keeping watch over Red, while Kitsu went out to inspect the podium cabinet. The inside of it was much better than the night before, though he noted some gouging into the wood. Overall though, Red had done as he agreed to. Reaching in carefully, he removed the remnants of the cleaning supplies and plopped them into the bucket he had left there. Making another check of the space, unearthed some small bits of Red’s clothing behind the safe. He carefully removed them as well, laying them on the ground. Once he had everything removed, and the Ledgers he had taken with him back into the floor safe, he closed it up and carried away the items he had removed.

He left the cleaning supplies in the changing room, and brought Red’s clothing into the host room they had put Red in. Anglea looked up at him as he entered, laying the clothing down as he joined her on the couch. “How is he?”

She closed her book for a moment, using her finger as a bookmark. “He has been restless, but not doing overly much, must be having a nightmare, seeing how his energy is flaring up.” As she finished her sentence, they heard a rustling, and movement coming from the makeshift bed. They moved to look in and see a dazed Red tring to stand up. “Hey, watch yourself, or you're gonna hurt yourself more.” Kitsu called out.

\----------

Hissing and flinching away, Red fell back into the bed of materials, jostling all his breaks, sprains, and other injuries. Burying his face in the blankets for a few seconds before taking a breath and trying to sit up again, his vision improved slightly. Thank stars for his rapid healing. “Hu-human?” he rasped, having screamed himself hoarse long before they’d ever returned. The guy was slowing coming back into focus.

\----------

He slid closer to the basket, looking down at the suffering skeleton. He could see the slight stain of crimson on the bedding, obviously from his injuries. Kitsu looked at Angela, who slid off of the couch and over to the opposite side of the table for a better look. Kitsu spoke calm and clear. “Red, stop moving and just lay there, you’re just going to cause more damage to yourself.”

\----------

Forcing himself up and growling a low, “Who put you in charge?” Red felt his arm shift and bit back a cry. “Okay, fine, but only cause I wanna.” The bedding was soft after all, if a bit lumpy. Looked like it had been shredded, but then he’d probably done that.

\----------

“If you want to cause more harm to yourself, that is up to you, but I would advise against it. You are already in pretty bad shape.” Kitsu remarked.

Angela chimed in, “Agreed. You need to stop and calm down. Your energy is already going haywire, and it is causing you even more issues.”

Red showed his defiance and pride, but that was not going to get anywhere with these two. The pair looked at each other and went back to Red. “Rest yourself!” They both muttered to the skeleton.

\----------

“Yeah, yeah. You win. Mind if I shred these more or are ya gonna get me high again for that?” He muttered, only half hearted. He’d already shredded it, so what was a bit more. He could use it to hold his bones in place and allow them to heal faster. “An’ why ya changin’ yer voice now. It’s confusin’ as fuck.” His sockets drifted shut, blocking out the bright light overhead. He still wasn’t used to all the brightness of the surface.

\----------

The pair looked confused. Get him high? Voice changing? They figured the pain was causing him some delusions, which would not be a surprise. There would be time for questions later. Right now though, Red needed time. “Go ahead and shred more, they can all be replaced. Just try not to harm yourself anymore, no idea where we could find a doctor to fix you up. But right now, you need to just stay there and recover!” Kitsu spat out, and covered the top of the basket with another cloth. “Just stay in there, Red.”

\----------

When darkness descended, Red breathed easier. With a whine he rolled himself over and stripped off his jacket, t-shirt, socks, and sneakers, the light from his eyes and what filtered through the cloth more than enough for him to see how bad the damage was on his arms, chest, and legs. He quickly shredded longer strips from the cloth and grimacing at the bright pink color, began tightly wrapping his bones. He had to set each one before setting it though and it was a lot of work on his sprained wrist and broken arm, so he set his arm first, figuring dealing with the sprain was the least of his worries. Under the pink material was white then blue, but all in pale, bright colors. He missed the lack of black, but this would work for now. At least he wasn’t bleeding marrow anymore and the bandages would stay in place. They were as tight as he could get them with his wrist banged up like it was.

Once he finished wrapping everything and tying it all off, he dug through the material and snapped a piece off the wicker basket so set his wrist, creating a brace. It was uncomfortable, but it should work for now. With all that done, he burrowed into the pile of shredded material, none of it recognizable as what it was before, and once completely hidden, fell asleep once more, deeper and dreamless without the light invading his mind.

\----------

The pair of humans saw the slight movement of the cover and the sound of the basket’s occupant moving about, a few hisses and snarls. Whatever he was doing, he was doing his best not to move a lot. They both moved to the front of the table, near the door, unable to do anything at this point but watch. Angela looked at Kitsu, “Do you think he is going to be alright?”

“He should be. I do not know how monsters heal, but if they are like us, he just needs time. At this point, I think we need to leave him be.” Angela nodded at this.

“I hope he does recover, I would love to find out more about the monsters…” Her eyes lit up at the thought. Kitsu smiled, but then grew stern for a moment. ‘I want to know how he got out of the podium and into the bar again.’ He thought to himself as he moved to open the door for them both. With one last glance at the basket, they departed the room for the time being.

With a few parting words, Angela took her leave. Leaving Kitsu to handle the usual pre-shift duties. He made an occasional check on Red. He could hear a calm breathing coming from the basket, the sounds of sleeping. Kitsu smiled at the fact he was finally getting some needed rest. On one last check, before everyone started to arrive for work. He moved the cover back for a moment, and slid in a small notecard, and 2 mustard packets. The notecard was just to tell Red that business was starting up, and to not cause any problems. With that done, Kitsu secured the door and hung a sign on the door, marking it as inactive.

Time flew quickly, and before he knew it, Kitsu was sitting in the changing room surrounded by Ayano and four other women. They all listened intently as Kitsu explained their “guest” and the situation. One of the workers grumbled because they used the room normally, but was still willing to concede it for the night. With everyone understanding, the conversation swapped over to usual business, and to any issues, concerns, and the like. Thankfully, that was a quick discussion, outside of the fact that they were all concerned with Kitsu’s hand. He gave them a reassurance that it was healing well, and only needed some small medication to handle it. With all of that out of the way, everyone got dressed, masked, and went about the start of their night.

\----------

.When Red awoke, the first thing he smelled was mustard. That was the perfect way to wake up in his opinion. Cracking his eyes open, he was reminded that he had burrowed into the bedding after a bit of shuffling, dug his way back out to find breakfast. Biting open a packet, he slowly drank the contents and looked over the human’s short letter. Business, right, that was something he wasn’t supposed to interfere in. He didn’t really care about business, he just wanted food right now. Healing took a lot of energy, the mustard took the edge off though, so he finished off both packets quickly. 

Easing up the cover of his small ‘home’, he looked around his room and was kind of impressed. It was small by human standards, but large enough to keep him occupied. There was furniture, plants, a window, and not far from him, the door. He couldn’t make it far, he knew that, but he wanted to have a bit more of a look around and he didn’t think it would be a bad idea to see if he could get some more food off of his current ‘landlord’. Easing out of the basket, he limped closer to the large plant whoes leaves just touched the edge of his table, he grabbed one and after a breath to brace himself for the pain he knew was coming, stepped off. The yank on his arm and wrist was like fire flooding through his bones, but the drop at the end when he had to let go was worse as it jostled all the others, especially his leg. On a lucky side though, This plant apparently dropped small sticks that were still pretty sturdy. 

The drop from the pot to the floor wasn’t going to be pleasant, there was nothing to slow his fall there. Bracing for that impact was harder and the pain sharper, but once it was done and he recovered his breath, he used the stick he had found as a crutch and explored the room a little, hobbling about and killing the occasional spider. He had to take frequent rests, but at least he could say he was still moving about. 

When the hunger got too strong, he made his way to the door and not hearing anybody, used a portion of what magic he had left to teleport to the other side. Sticking close to the wall, he limped his way toward where he knew his human should be. Maybe there would be food on the safe again. So long as he didn’t make a mess, maybe he could steal some again.

\----------

The night was slow for a change, which while everyone in The Den enjoyed making money, they had no issue with the occasional calm time. The unoccupied workers got to relax and unwind, while still staying prepped for whenever Kitsu summoned them, while the active workers kept their clients happy. Kitsu was also enjoying the quiet time. He leaned against his podium, pressing his knee against the cabinet door and reading over the book that Angela had with her earlier in the day. He asked to borrow it when she left, to which she gladly allowed. “These myths are interesting to say the least, but nothing about anything Red mentioned though.” He read the pages with a calm yet focused gaze, taking in anything that he came across.

\----------

When he reached the end of the hall, Red noticed the book and shook his head. He had no use for those things. Couldn’t read a lick anyway. He was starting to get short of breath again from the short walk, the pain making it hard to do much of anything. Taking up a seat on the moldng beside the human, still unnoticed, he rested.

After a few minutes he called out. He didn’t want to waste his magic teleporting into the cupboard if there was nothing in there for him. He had very little to spare to begin with. “Yo human? Got any more of the food layin’ ‘round? ‘M hungry.” He wouldn’t divulge he was also weak, though he figured it was pretty obvious by the fact he needed a damn crutch and was wrapped on almost every bone.

\----------

Kitsu’s ears perked hearing a voice out of nowhere, a familiar voice. He instinctively looked behind him and down towards the ground. There was Red sitting there, though he had a crutch and wrappings all over his body. “Red? How did you get out of the room? I figured you would stay resting until you healed up more.” Kitsu’s voice was stern, yet concerned for Red, especially given the shape he was found in. Though, Red did not seem like the type to just sit around. So him being awake and active was not a surprise, but being out of the room was a surprise.

\----------

Ignoring the question, he repeated his own. “Ya got any food? Need to eat to heal, jus’ how it works. ‘Sides, sittin’ ‘round is too boring.” He glanced away before rubbing his neck. “Eh, thanks fer the mustard too.”

\----------

Rolling his eyes behind his mask at the fact that Red ignored the question, he thought for a moment. “I do not have any food at my podium at the moment, so sorry about that. And you are welcome for the mustard, you needed something at least. Now, how did you get out here, Red? I assume the same way you found your way into the bar yesterday after I left?”

\----------

His groan at the lack of food turned into a growl at the pressured question. “Yeah, same way. Took a damn short cut. What’s it to you?” He didn’t like providing information, even less if it was about his abilities. The more someone knew, the less capable he would become in a fight, not that he stood a chance against an aware human anyway. “Not like I broke or stole anything.” He justified.

\----------

“Well, in the grand scheme, you actually did both of those things, Red.” He glanced back at the book and closed it for the time being. “I am curious about how you got out, but I think the more important thing is how you ended up in the shape you were in. You were fine last night when I left you to clean. And today we find you slumped in a corner, stammering like a lunatic and summoning...things...to attack things that were not even there.”

\----------

“Meant this time, jackass.” He grumbled. Louder, he decided to answer the guy’s questions lest the incident repeat. He hadn’t enjoyed the trip, so he’d do what he could to avoid a repeat. “I think that cleaner ya gave me had some nasty fumes. Completely fucked up my magic til I could barely see straight, then it musta gotten into the fracture on my fibula. By then I was sleep out on the bar. Burned like a son of a bitch. I fell offa the counter and probably got most of the other breaks then. Either way, havin’ that crap in my marrow stream played hell on me. Couldn’ tell wha was real an’ wha wasn’t.” He shook his head at the nauseating memories.

\----------

Kitsu’s ears perked, he did not hear what Red said, but he knew he was annoyed. “So the fumes of the cleaner messed with your head, and you ended up taking a nasty tumble. You are lucky you are not dead, Red. Guess it was a good thing we showed up when we did. How are you feeling now?”

\----------

“Hungry.” He answered honestly, but not elaborating. “An I’m not sure I’d call bein’ alive righ now lucky.” He sighed before pushing himself back to his feet with a groan. “If I can’t get food offa ya, guess I’ll go back to my cell. Cya warden.” Using his crutch, he started back down the hall towards his room. Too bad he couldn’t score a pretty lady, but they were all human. What would he even do with them anyway?

\----------

“Stubborn little creature you are, you know that?” Kitsu retorted as Red started to limp away. “I try not to keep food up here, maybe some water, but yesterday was an exception. Besides, how do I really know what you eat outside of mustard?” He stared through his mask, waiting to see what Red would say or do next, though he probably would just ignore KItsu and keep heading down the hall.

\----------

Pausing just before the corner, Red sighed. He guessed that was fair, don’t eat where you work and not feeding those whos diet you don’t know. The guy wasn’t terrible, just useless. “Meat an cheese. Don’ do any green shit and no bread or dough of any sort. The mustard is just a drink, like alcohol, but sweeter. Th-thanks fer givin a shit.” He resumed his half-step hopping limp down the hall, turning the corner and dreading the morning when he’d have to face the human.

\----------

Kitsu shook his head, though the mask hid a smile. He did not completely know why he was caring about the little skeleton, or maybe he did...regardless he turned back to his podium and reached underneath for his phone. Giving a quick glance up at the curtain and back at the phone. He shot out a quick text, and set the device down on the podium awaiting a response, it only took a minute to get his reply. He nodded and slid the phone away, just in time to head the familiar chime of a client entering from the bar. He slipped Angela’s book in next to the phone, adjusted himself into the professional posture he preferred to be in when he received a new customer. Business was business right now, Red would come later.

\----------

Once he was back to his door, Red checked the hallway one more time to just be safe and used a bit of what he had left in his stores to get to the other side. Once there, he made one last short cut up to the soft nest the warden and his pretty lady had made and dug back in, pulling the cover back in place. He’d just have to sleep on an empty stomach. It wouldn’t be the first time for him.

\----------

With the most recent client squared away with his company for the evening, Kitsu returned to his reading for a few minutes before he heard the chime from the entrance. He moved to straighten himself, but was stopped by a voice from the other side of the curtain. “Yo, Kitsu, the food you ordered is here.” He relaxed as a man, obviously a server from the bar, entered into his area carrying a styrofoam clamshell container. He walked up to the podium and extended the container. “Small beef skewer, with cheese. All yours, Kitsu”

Accepting the item, Kitsu handed him a few dollars for the food and a tip. “Thank you very much, give the owner my regards.” He bowed to the server, and watched as the man departed back through the curtain with a wave. The container had a wooden skewer with five pieces of beef on it, each of them with a small piece of cheese on top. “This should be good for Red.” 

Giving the entrance one last look he slipped out from behind the podium with the container, and down the hallway, into the room where Red should be, at least he hoped so. He opened the door and looked inside. Listening carefully, he could hear the sound of something breathing slowly. ‘Oh good, I can just leave this here for him. Slipping with a seemingly practiced grace, he placed the open container on the table near Red’s “nest” and slipped back out without as much as a sound. He closed the door and moved back to his post.

\----------

Nightmares, memories, and other such imagery passed through the small skeleton’s subconscious as he slept fitfully. It wasn’t until the scent of food reached him that he escaped the realm of his own mind. Unearthing himself from all the blankets and material, he pushed aside the cloth covering his nest and grinned when he spotted the food container. He’d learned early on that containers like this often carried the best, greasiest food humans could create. As fast as he could, he left the basket and moved over to cut the tabs keeping it shut, allowing it to open and release the sweet smell that had been encased inside. 

Salivating at the idea of fresh, warm, greasy food, Red didn’t hesitate to cut a wall of the the container out of his way and started eating one of the bits of steak with cheese, moaning softly to himself over the flavor. The last time he’d had fresh, hot food had been back in the underground at Amethyst’s bar. How he missed it.

He finished two and a half pieces out of five before he stopped and groaned, slightly over full. Licking his teeth clean, he made his way back to next and contentedly passed out, sprawled on his back, snoring obnoxiously under his mess of shredded materials. He may have started the day in the worst, crappy way possible, but right now, he felt like he was in heaven. He could die happy.

\----------

The rest of the night went quickly for The Den. The few clients they had were satisfied, and the women were glad to have a downtime night. Sure it was a slow night, but everyone knew that was the nature of the business. Everyone changed their outfits and departed, all except Kitsu. He wanted to make one more check on Red. Heading back to the room, he entered to see if anything had changed.

\----------

Snorting and temporarily choking on air, Red coughed out a bit of material and blearily opened his sockets. Hearing the door open, he dug deeper into his blankets, not sure of who it was. The warden wanted him to stay hidden and he wanted to keep this nice nest and have a place to stay while he healed, so he’d do his best to cater to the guy.

\----------

Kitsu moved into the room, passing by the table, and doing a quick check over of the room itself. Nothing was out of the ordinary, so he could assume that Red was still present. Nothing had been disturbed, except for the food that had been left half eaten. ‘At least Red ate something, it seems.’ He thought to himself. He opted to not check on Red, leaving that for later in the day. As he left he took one more glance at the basket on the table, and turned off the light, casting everything into darkness, as the door shut.

A short time later, Kitsu was following his usual route back to his home, his mind pondering over several things, particularly Red. He was still unsure of how to handle this all. Yes, he was providing food for him. Yes he was essentially giving him lodging. Yes he had taken it upon himself to keep him safe after he had been seriously injured. But yet, why was he? The Den was a business, not a flop house. While Red did not seem to be any major threat, he was still an unknown in all of this. Kitsu was showing kindness, much like he had received when he first came here, but he still had to keep an air of caution towards the little skeleton. From the walk home, through his resting hours, his mind ran over the ideas on what to do about all of this. He felt he still needed to know more about Red before he could make a completely sound judgement on him. ‘This will take some time.’ Kitsu thought as he passed out on his bed.

\----------

When the light was extinguished, Red heaved a sigh of relief. Pulling himself from his nest, he limped over to his food and ate another piece and stretched. The sprain in his wrist was healed after the rest and food. He could feel his magic working in his breaks and knew that the only thing he could do was rest and let it do its own thing. The food didn’t have magic imbued into it so it wouldn’t work as strong as what he was used to, but it was better than nothing and helping a great deal. Limping back to his basket, he dug under the covers again and lay there for a while, just staring at the blanket cover. ‘Why does that human give a shit about me? Why is he doing all of this? What does he want from me?’ the questions circled inside his skull, keeping sleep at bay for a long time.

\----------

The waking hours came quickly for Kitsu, his medication distorting his sense of time. He felt like it was noonish, when it was really more around two in the afternoon. He had some ideas about how he should go about handling Red, but he just needed more information. His first idea was to just ask, but Red would probably dance around the question. He needed another means of gathering information. And if it could help The Den in the long run, even better. As such, he stopped in at one of the local, high-end electronics shops in the city, one Ayano always went on about. 

After browsing and asking questions, he stepped back out carrying a bag with his purchases. He also arranged to have the flawed credit card reader looked at, but for now, he figured that a nice upgrade to The Den was in order. The business had been around for years, but with the rise in tourists and non-local clients, some measures of security would be in order. As such a few inconspicuous security cameras would help with keeping everyone safe, and potentially see what Red does when he was not there, and how he escaped all of the time.

\----------

Red tossed and turned all day, never able to stay in one position for long as it put pressure on either one break or another. Needless to say, he wasn’t getting much rest. Occasionally he would come out to get a bit more to eat, but beyond that, he reserved his energy for the healing. It was driving him mad to stay in one spot, but it would pay off. The less energy he expended, the more could be put into making him whole sooner.

\----------

A quick stop for some snacks and drinks, plus order supplies for The Den rounded off Kitsu’s travelling for the day. He decided to take a break at a sushi place and get himself something more substantial than snacks. The place was relatively busy, but there was still plenty of room to sit and relax. He found a table, ordered some food, and let himself just settle. The past few days were definitely busy, but he was fine with it. Dealing with Red at least added to the excitement. Hopefully, he could come to a clear answer soon on what to do with him. But for now...it was his time, and he was going to enjoy it. He pulled out Angela’s book and started to read, only stopping when he got his food. 

He stayed put for a good 20 minutes, before embarking for The Den. Taking some of the leftover sushi with him, he took a nice stroll to get there. As he approached, he saw Angela sitting outside of the bar. They greeted each other with a wave. “What are you doing here, Angela?”

“I wanted to see how the monster was doing. Been kind of eager to talk to him a bit if possible.”

“Well I do not see why not, if he is awake that is. He woke up for a bit to find some food, but went back to rest soon after. Come on, let’s get inside.” He shuffled through his pocket for the key and started to unlock the door. Angela watched intently before speaking up. “So how is the hand?”

“Still hurts now and then, the medication draining me is more of the problem, but I will be fine.” With that, they both entered the bar, closing the door behind them and heading down the usual corridors to The Den.

\----------

Although it was still tender, the fracture on his arm seemed to have healed completely. After removing the bandages, Red was able to confirm as much. Only then did he messily dig into the last bit of steak on the skewer. Cold and several hours left sitting it wasn’t as good, but food was food and he wasn’t about to knock it. Finishing it off and using one of the strips of cloth he had set aside for cleaning himself up after the messy meal, he stretched and considered trying to move around a bit. His legs were nowhere near ready, but he was bored with sleeping. Conversation in the hall made him reconsider and rush back to his hiding place.

\----------

The pair discussed the information in the book Angela had loaned Kitsu as they made their way through the halls and towards the changing room. “Shouldn’t we check on Red?” Angela asked as Kitsu closed the door behind them.

“In a few minutes, I wanted to get this all put away.” He opened up his locker, and started to unload several small boxes, and some other odds and ends. All of them from the tech store. 

Angela watched as he stowed everything away. “Looks Like you were busy shopping today.”

He held up a small box as he was putting it into the locker, and smiled. “New security cameras. With the influx of out of town clients, figured it was a good idea to work on building up the security around here. Once I get these set up, I can use a mobile device to monitor everything. Plus, they are small and inconspicuous, so they can be set up with minimal work.”

“That is great! Will be a nice addition.” She remarked as she clapped her hands cheerfully.

Once the last few things were squared away, he grabbed a small bag with the leftover sushi in it. “Come on. How about we check on our guest? Oh and do not mention the cameras.” Angela looked puzzled at the request. “I am still getting a bead on how he is, so I'm not sure what to expect. He makes me very curious. Maybe this way I can learn a bit more about him. Best to learn about someone when they are not aware.”

“Cunning as a fox, just like always Kitsu.”

“Of course. But let’s go see Red.” With that the pair headed out of the changing room and out towards Red’s space, eventually opening the door slowly, looking in to see what was going on if anything.

\----------

Carefully, Red lifted the lip of material covering the edge of his nest to watch the door as it opened, ready to go back into hiding at a moment’s notice. When first the man, then a woman entered, he sighed and relaxed, ducking back under the cover just before the bright light above was lit. He didn’t know the reason for their visit, but didn’t value himself so highly as to expect they were here for him. He would stay out of sight and out of mind hopefully until it all rolled over.

\----------

As Kitsu entered, he flipped a light switch and adjusted a small lever, illuminating the room a bit and adjusting the brightness. Nothing was out of place, well except for the empty food container and the skewer stick. Red’s bed was still as it was, the question now, was he in there? Angela peered out around him, looking about as well. Kitsu picked up the food remnants and tossed them in a trash can by the door, while Angela crept up to the table, and kneeled to get a better look at whatever would come out of it.

\----------

Watching through the walls of the basket as the woman knelt to stare at his nest, he growled lowly and quietly. She knew he was here which meant the man had shared his habitation. Not bothering to keep up the pretense if he was just going to be stared at, he dragged himself to the one side of the nest that he had built up so that it was easier to get out and pulled himself over, grabbing his crutch to help balance himself. He made sure he was facing them as he slid out and onto the table top. He met her eyes, his bright and defensive.

“You brought a friend.” He addressed Kitsu but didn’t look away from the woman.

\----------

Once Red had slid his way out of the basket, Angela’s eyes went wide at the sight of him. Kitsu smirked and nodded. “I did. Her name is Angela and she is one of my employees. She is also a novice psychic, who can sense energy. She has been catching faint traces of whatever power you have in you, Red. Especially from the wound you gave me.” Holding up the bandaged hand to state his point. “Needless to say, she wanted to actually see a monster for once, and since you have been recovering here, she felt it as good a chance as any.” Angela nodded in agreement, not looking away from Red.

While Kitsu was talking, Angela was reading the energy Red had coming off of him. Sure, it was low emittance, obviously suppressing it for some reason, but it was still lingering on him and the “bed”. Even with low exposure, she could tell whatever energy he had was of a decent strength. What kind of energy it was exactly, she did not know. But she would be more than happy to find out at some point.

\----------

“Oh please. I barely grazed you with that bite. People have lost fingers for trying to grab me before.” He snapped, glancing back at his warden for a moment. Turning back to Angela, Red looked her over. Not bad looking for a human female. “So what do you think? What is your opinion on my magic? Let’s hear it. I’m sure I’ve heard worse.” He sneered at her. His brother had always told him he was incompetent and had no worth, that his magic was weak. Now he got to be measured by a human who thought they knew something about it. The whole situation was laughable.

\----------

Kitsu gave him a glare and held up his hand again. “Not according to the doctor. You left a decent wound in my hand, and thanks to what you ate before hand, it was infected. They have me on medication to take care of it. But it is at least treatable, so there is that…” Angela interrupted Kitsu’s statement to address Red.

“Magic you say?” She leaned back on her knees a bit, observing the skeleton. “Well I guess that would be a proper term for it.” Her gaze went into a blank stare for a moment, almost trance-like. The sight was probably confusing to Red, but not to Kitsu, who just stood back and let her focus. She stayed completely still for a few seconds, before shaking her head and clearing her mind. “The problem with determining how strong your ‘magic’ truly is, is the fact that I am not sure what to compare it to except other energies I have seen…”

\----------

Red snorted. “Yeah, ‘magic’, Miracle Activated Granules In Circumstance. It’s what I use to create my constructs and do other shit. And as for your little bite big man, it wasn’t what I ate. It’s infected cause I’m the one that did it. Good luck healin’ that wit yer drugs.” Returning to the woman and limping forward to the edge of the table and carefully sitting down, he sighed. “So, what other energies have you seen that could compare to what I’ve got. Can never be too careful. It's a big world out there.” He chuckled at his own pun.

\----------

‘Yep, he seems to be feeling better now.’ He thought to himself as he brushed off the comment, though he did feel a little bit out of it for a moment. probably from the medication. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, though once Red challenged Angela’s knowledge, he smirked. He knew that even as a novice, she knew a great deal about energy. He stayed quiet as Angela began to speak again.

“Well my teacher and his disciples for starters, they have energy radiating off of them constantly, and it is strong especially from my teacher. However there in lies the other issue, you are not emitting a lot of energy. Only trickles, though those trickles definitely have power behind them. You seem to be like a dam holding back a river. I am sure though that you are either using it to heal yourself or conserve energy, but I will not rule out the idea that while strong, you may not have a lot of “magic” to let out.”

\----------

Not bad for a human.” Red conceded, nodding. “Right now most of my magic is being used for healing, but some is being saved for defense from grabby hands and those damn spiders." This lady was an academic, he could appreciate that.

\----------

"I see. So you are retaining magic to inhibit healing. Makes sense. Regardless, there is a level of power in you for certain, I sensed it in Kitsu's wound, and can sense it more attentively right now." She gave a nod of confidence in her statement.

\----------

“No,” he drew it out as if he was dealing with a child. “I am retaining magic for defense. I am expending it on healing. Not that hard to understand I don’t think.” He sighed and leaned back on his arms.

\----------

Kitsu picked up on the slight demeaning tone in Red’s voice. ‘This thing really is a little arrogant bastard isn’t he.’ He thought as he continued to watch the interaction, allowing Angela to have the time she wanted. His mind still pondered a simple fact, why was he giving such a damn about Red? So many cons and not many pros at this point, so why did he keep him here? HE would need some deep thinking about all of this at this point.

“No, I understand completely, but a clarification is also welcomed. Beings use energy differently, and you use your magic in the ways that help you survive. I know people who do the same thing. All I have been saying is that you have strong magic in you, and you’re keeping it contained. So while I cannot feel the full extent, I can sense it coming off of you, Red.” Angela kept up her analysis of Red, making mental notes and building some understanding in her head. Red was a unique being, but she could sense a bit more, a certain pulse in his energy. It could be brought up if needed, but right now, it was not a major point.

\----------

Humming non-committedly, he turned to look at Kitsu. “Ya bring me anymore grub? That stuff from last night was pretty good. Gave me enough energy to heal my wrist and arm at the very least.”

\----------

"All I have is some leftover sushi from my lunch." Kitsu admitted. "Not really sure if that works for you or not." He made a gesture to the small bag next to him, and picked it up. He figured Red was going to ask for food, considering that he had already provided food for him several times already. But given that he was still debating on letting him stay or not, Kitsu did not want to make him overly used to food on request.

\----------

His face started to pull into a sneer at the idea of eating sushi until he forced himself to think and remember that what the man had was like all he would get. If it wasn’t given, he’d be stuck without food again. Sighing and dragging a hand over his face, the bone clicking and scratching against itself, he nodded. “It’ll do.”

\----------

Opening the bag, he placed it on the table in front of Red. Angela looked at him, almost like she was confused for a moment at what he had done. He simply gave a reassuring nod, and with a smile she turned back to the skeleton. "What else needs to be healed besides your leg at this point? You said your arm and wrist were better."

\----------

Instantly Red was on the defensive. “That ain’t none of yer damn business lady.” There was an edge of a snarl in his voice and one eye flared for a moment as his stored magic tried to manifest. He kept it from doing so though. He couldn’t afford to waste. Keeping an eye on them, he pushed himself up and limped over to the food. Using his crutch, he attempted to pry the plastic cover off, muttering silent curses the whole time.

\----------

"Nice way to treat the ones who have been watching out for you the past few days." Kitsu snapped back after Red's little outburst. Even though it was just a small thing, he did not tolerate that type of tone being used with the females he associated with, on or off shift. "We have been treating you pretty well, so have some gratitude." His voice was stern, and to the point.

\----------

Flinching from the reprimand, Red instantly downcast his eyes and left the food. “Right. Sorry ma’am.” He sounded sincere, a complete one eighty to his attitude moments before. “Jus used ta fightin fer ever’thin. Beggin ya pardon.”

\----------

Kitsu and Angela both noted Red’s reaction to the outburst. His tone softened a bit. “Sorry to do that, but I am not one to tolerate that kind of tone with the women.” Kitsu crouched down, trying to hide his legs being a little wobbly from the medication, and looked at Red. “I get you probably came from a rough place, but no one is trying to fight you here. And there is no need to turn from the food I gave you to eat.”

Angela watched Kitsu as he spoke, he was being sincere. “He is right, Red. We are not trying to cause an issue for you. After seeing how you were yesterday, we are just being concerned.” She added on the tail of Kitsu’s comments.

\----------

He opened his mouth to spout off again, but closed it after a moment’s thought. Shaking his head, he sighed. “Humans are so weird. Why do you even care anyway? All the others of your kind I’ve met have only treated me like a pest or some sort of rodent, even been called a rat by a few. Why all this?” He waved at the food, room and basket, red translucent liquid beading in his sockets.

\----------

“I admit at first that is what you seemed to be, but that was because I had no idea what I was dealing with.” Kitsu spoke up, still crouched. “I am not completely sure either, something in me, an instinct, just told me you needed some kind of help. It’s hard to describe, but the main thing is that even after everything, I have not told you to leave.”

\----------

Quickly swiping at the beaded magic, Red turned away. “No, ya haven’t. I do….appreciate that.” Approaching the food once more to try and get the plastic off of the top, he growled before summoning a knife that easily cut through it and allowed him access. He couldn’t cut the aluminum, but the plastic gave way easily enough. Once it was open, he pulled one of the pieces closer and began dissecting it, pulling the small bits of meat out of the center of the rolls. “I assume I’m gonna have to make it all up once I’m well enough though, either that or leave. Am I right?” He didn’t look away from his work as he spoke, only occasionally eating a bit of the meat he pulled out, setting the rest on the bit of plastic he’d cut away.

\----------

Angela watched as he summoned the knife out of mid air. “So you are able to conjure items using your magic, interesting.” Her eyes wide, showing glimmers of excitement at witnessing his ability first hand. “It’s cool don’t you think?” She turned to Kitsu with her question.

He nodded. “Very interesting for sure. As for what you said, that is still up in the air right now. I can see you are still not completely up to snuff, so for the time being, I can allow you to stay. A lot safer here than being roaming about the city injured. Once you recover, then we can discuss further.”

\----------

“Heh, thanks, and to answer your question...Angela was it?” He paused to look over at her, trying to remember. “I can’t conjure anything. This bone knife, some simple bones, and one or two other things is about my limit. I just figure out how to best use them.” He returned to his task, quietly humming a broken tune to himself. Something about her was gentling. He couldn’t help but open up.

\----------

“Well, I would still call it a conjuring ability, though.. Enjoying the food by the way?” She asked him as she adjusted to sit on the couch, leaning forward a bit to keep conversation with Red. “The sushi place he got it from is really good.”

\----------

“Call it what ya want. As for the food, it’s terrible, but it is food that I ain’ fightin fer my life for. Can’t knock that. Still, there’s too much of it that I can’t eat. Don’ wanna chance losin my tooth ‘gain an that green shit is just disgusting. Meat ain’ greasy ‘nough either. But hey, it’s free and food. Tha’s all that matters.” He popped a bit of the fish into his mouth and dragged the plastic closer to the edge of the table and took his seat again, rubbing his legs. This was the most he’d walked since the day before and the nights rest made them sore.

“Now, as fer yer other question, the one I snapped on.” He looked away, fighting with himself over providing his weakness so openly, “I broke and fractured a few ribs at some point while I was messed up. They’re still healin’. My legs are by far in the worst shape though. Caught them in the cabinet door a few times when I was gettin in an out of his desk thingy.” He waved at Kitsu, ignoring him for the most part.

\----------

“Damn, you took a beating then. How long do you think it will take to make a full recovery?” She inquired. “And I assume by the desk thingy, you mean the podium Kitsu uses at the front to receive clients?”

Kitsu jumped in with an answer, “Correct. The two times I found him, he was actually inside by the floor safe. Once, on top of the safe, eating my food, and the other he was hiding behind the safe.” His gaze shifted to Red. “I figure that you were trying to make that your crash space?”

\----------

“Yup. Dark, quiet, and there were hardly any spiders in there. It worked perfect.” He confirmed. “An then you tried to catch me and got bit.” He grinned wide, showing off all his fangs, including his gold one. “It was a good spot and was pretty close to the booze too, so that was an extra plus.”

\----------

“Yeah, I know.” Kitsu said as he looked at his hand, carefully curling his fingers back into his palm as an exercise. “My biggest concern though, was the fact that was where the safe was located. I can tell that you are not one who would be interested in the contents of it, but with business sensitive information, I had to be cautious. I do not want to put The Den at risk.”

\----------

Red instantly misunderstood. “You protect a den? Shit, I-I didn’t mean to mess with that level of crap. No way do I need to get mixed up with units. I- I’ll be gone as soon as I can. I promise I won’t mess with your den.” He was honestly scared. He remembered the rabbits, dogs, and temmie with their dens. They had all been right terrifying when it came to defending their dens. He didn’t want to see a human get in that position.

\----------

They both noted the panic Red had worked himself into. A quick glance at each other and back to Red. Kitsu cracked a small smile. Maybe he found a way to better explain things to Red. “Easy, Red, easy.” He said calmly, sliding to the floor to be on level with red as he explained. “You are correct in a sense with your interpretation. I do protect a den, that is why I stand at the front of this place, at the podium you made a haven for yourself. You are inside of my den right now, Red. The major difference is the den I protect is also a business that helps provide for myself and the workers of it like Angela here. I think you can understand a little more clearly why I have been on the defensive since you showed up, I have to protect the Den.” He smiled at the skeleton, while Angela listened attentively. It was the first time she had heard The Den explained like this, and she found it very interesting to say the least.

\----------

A low growl emanated from Red, buried in his chest as he fought his own instincts to stand his ground. “So where does that leave us? A few more days, if you keep feeding me, and I’ll be back in perfect condition. Gonna put me back out on the streets? I ain’t no part of yer den. Never been a part of no den, nor any unit. Doubt that is gonna change soon. I ain’ changin’ for nobody.” He popped the last small morsel of sushi into his mouth and met Kitsu’s eyes for the first time and actually held them, treating him as an equal and not disregarding him. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t have to.

\----------

Angela was catching on to what Kitsu had been saying, and spoke up with her own addition, her voice pleasant, yet informative and serious. “Traditionally in the wild, when a wounded animal finds its way into another creature’s den, three things can happen: The intruder is forced back out, the intruder is killed, or the intruder is allowed to stay at least until it has recovered. It all comes down to if the inhabitants deem the intruder a threat. Right now, we have not killed you, nor have we forced you out. So I think you can understand what that means at this point. Right, boss?” She looked at Kitsu as she spoke the last part. It was rare to call him boss, but for this moment, it aided in possibly helping Red to understand a bit more.

\----------

“Not a threat? You gotta be kiddin’ me. I knocked more’n one’a….ah….nevermind.” Stopping himself just in time, he realized that telling these people he’d taken out a few of their own would likely not help his cause. “Ya know what, believe whatever you want.” He reached out to grab his crutch but instead accidentally knocked it off the table top, his body instinctively reaching to catch it and following it right over the edge. Teleporting, he caught the stick and landed himself back in his nest, breathing fast at the near damage he had just evaded. That had been way too much of a rush.

\----------

It was a blink and you missed it moment, and neither of the humans in the room blinked. One minute Red was falling to the floor, and the next he was suddenly back in the basket. “Well I’ll be…” Kitsu chimed with some surprise in his voice. Angela’s eyes went wide, but not from surprise, but with eagerness. “Red...you can teleport!? Kitsu, I think you just found your answer.” Kitsu just nodded, before speaking up. “So that is how you have been getting around through the locked doors…”

\----------

“Yeah.” Red muttered, still checking to make sure he really was alive. It wasn’t the first time he’d fallen like that, but every time gave him the shakes. On top of it all, that had been two teleports in short succession without preparation. He’d wasted a lot of magic there. So much for storing up for healing. Now he was nearly depleted again. Teleports took a lot to pull off and so did his healing. This was just great.

\----------

The muffled reply of Red leaked from the basket, confirming that he had gone from the table, to midair, into the basket. The pair of humans continued to stare for another few seconds at the unoccupied space, before shaking their heads and waking up from their stupor. Angeal was the first to speak up. “Are you alright, Red?” She said with some concern in her voice.

Kitsu on the other hand, scratched his chin as he thought. Things were starting to make a bit more sense. Why could he have gotten out of the podium in his condition, and even come out to see him about food the night prior. His concentration was broken by Angela speaking up, to which he followed up with words of his own. “Sounds like you were able to save yourself, Red. Everything ok?”

\----------

“Low on magic but otherwise just peachy.” Sarcasm coated and dripped from his words before he followed it up by sounding exhausted. You won’t have to worry about me messing up the place tonight Warden. I’m gonna be sleeping. Fish has next to nothin’ in it and I just burned everythin’ an more’n what you gave me. Nigh’.” 

Digging into his scraps, Red cried to himself. He hated being weak and something as simple as a double teleport shouldn’t have affected him. When he’d left the mountain they’d been trapped under, He’d pulled dozens of teleports in a day and still had tons of magic to blow. Lack of food and rough living had taken a heavy toll on him. He was once strong, now he was getting his ass handed to him at every turn.

\----------

With Red informing them he was going to be resting, the pair both gave him a rest well, and exited the room quietly. Now back in the hall, Kitsu made his way back out to the entrance of The Den, while Angela followed. “So what are you going to do with Red, Kitsu?”

He leaned on his podium, the look on his face showing that he was deep in thought. “I have an idea or two, but I need to think. I can at least say I will have a decision made by opening time tonight. So I would say to check in with me later.” He turned and gave a confident smile to Angela. She knew that smile, and she felt reassured that this was going to work out for the best.

“I guess I will head out now, and will be back for my shift. I look forward to hearing what you're going to do with our little visitor.” She bowed to Kitsu, and he returned it with one of his own. With that, she stepped through the curtain and left, leaving Kitsu alone with his thoughts. “Well...I think I need to do some work then.” He stretched himself a bit, and started to move about, preparing for the work he was about to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have questions, comments, or thoughts, please share below. We don't bite unless asked, but we always respond.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story continues and just maybe Kitsu has a soft spot for the monster he is putting up. We meet another one of the girls and Red's healing journey continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long space between publishing. We hope the wait is worth it!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: There is implied past sexual harassment, rape, and/or non-con in this chapter. It is not explicitly detailed, but it is mentioned and plays a large part in the later half of the chapter.

Kitsu leaned on a fence outside of his apartment, staring off over the city and towards the newly reddening horizon. Night was falling, and he watched as the process was taking place. It was a relaxing sight to behold, especially after being busier than normal. He let out a contented sign and smiled. The quiet of the area was broken by amale voice behind him. “Well, fox boy, you have done a fine job today.” Kitsu turned, knowing the voice well. It belonged to Kanja Tomo, the man who had founded the city, “Good evening, sir.” Kitsu replied with a bow. Kenja returned the bow and smiled. “Enjoying the view, eh? It is rather nice isn’t it. One of the reasons I chose this location to build my home. I can see the entire city, and the beauty of time as the sun rises and falls.” 

He stepped forward, standing next to Kitsu to look out as well. The pair gazed over it all for a few minutes, then [founder] spoke up again. “Are you doing alright? Is there anything you need from me?”

He turned his head towards the older gentleman, “Not that I can really think of. You have been very generous and helpful to me since I came to this city, and I feel like there is nothing I can ask you for.” He gave a smile and turned back towards the skyline.

Kenja turned to him, a small smile on his face, but yet a small bit of concern in his facial features. “I can understand how you feel on that matter, fox boy. I did not ask looking for rejection or even for confirmation. I asked because I know how you are. You are a sly and clever one, but you are a kind hearted young man. It is rare to know someone who can manifest all of those traits.” Kenja turned to face the younger man, arms behind his back, and smiling. “When you have been in business as long as I have, you learn to be a judge of character and personality. You...you are a person who can do great things, and I know you will succeed in making this city a better place for yourself and others. Just keep your wits about you, and the kindness for others in your heart.”

“Do you really think so?” Kitsu said inquisitively.

Kenja nodded. “I do. Just do what you feel you need to. It’s all up to you, Kitsu…”

His eyes went wide for a moment out of surprise. Kenja never called him that. As a matter of fact he gave himself that name after Kenja passed away...what is going on? In his ears, he could hear his name ringing. It was then everything went dark...

Kitsu’s eyes fluttered open. He no longer saw the crimson horizon and the town. He saw the inside of the changing room in The Den, as well as a trio of faces leaning over him. Ayano and Angela were staring at him along with another female. She had long dark red hair, slender features, and dark brown eyes. She smirked, “Looks like we missed out on little fun, eh ladies?” The trio chuckled lightly as Kitsu stirred more.

“Ayano...Angela...Karin...I must have passed out...for a bit.” His words were slow, but his wits were about him. “Can you help me...sit up?” The ladies nodded and reached out, pulling him into a sitting position on the couch he had passed out on. “You ok, Kitsu?” Ayano piped up.

“Yeah, gimme a few to wake up...I did some work...I want you all to know about.”

\----------

Cracking a socket open only to groan and let it slide shut again, Red huffed. Still tired, still exhausted, but wide awake. He could barely move, he hurt so much. He was a real mess. Giving the air a sniff told him food hadn’t been delivered while he slept, so there wasn’t any point in struggling to the edge of the basket.

Instead, he thought about what Angela had said and had to agree, they hadn’t killed him or forced him out immediately. That meant he could stay until he was well, but then he would be back on the street. Maybe he should fake injury for a bit after he was healed so he could build up his magic reserves before going back out there. He’d have to find another city or risk running into these humans again. The countryside between their towns and cities was so vast though, it was a hard trek with next to nothing to eat but nuts and bugs. Trying to catch the animals was too hard for him to even care.

Thinking on his current situation, he had to figure out what to do to keep himself occupied in the coming week or two that it would take to recover. He was going to be physically healed in another day or two if they kept feeding him, maybe even by tomorrow evening. Magically though, he would still be nearly defenseless. A full week should see that remedied if he could keep from large displays or too many teleports. It was the teleports he was worried about. All these doors were next to impossible to get around without a teleport. Some he figured he might be able to shimmy under, but he did not shimmy! Besides, if he began exploring again, he might piss off the warden and then he’d be sure to get the boot early. Sitting around was a pain though. It was so boring! Huffing again, he thumped his skull against the cushy nest and whined. He was going to go insane. That was what was going to happen!

\----------

After finally shaking out the cobwebs from his mind, and a quick cup of coffee, Kitsu escorted the trio of women out of the dressing room and back out to the entryway, bringing Karin up to speed on everything concerning Red. She seemed validly confused about it all, but she still accepted the fact of the matter. “I just hope this Red doesn’t come peeping around my room. I don’t like to show off for free, Kitsu.” She said with a joking smile.

“You should be fine, Karin. And if he is a problem you let me know, and I will handle it.” He gave her a reassuring nod as they reached their destination.

Upon reaching the podium, Kitsu turned and knelt behind it, close to the wall. He reached out and slid away a concealed panel, part of the cabinet he used to store extra credit card readers, radios and other tech for general operation. Only instead of the whole panel moving, he only shifted the bottom part of it. He motioned for the women to move closer so they could get a view of the inside.

It was laid out in a small, comfortable looking setup, almost like a mini version of one of The Den’s with minimum furniture. The ladies stared in wonder at the small marvel that Kitsu had setup. Angela was the first to speak up. “I am guessing you are giving Red his own little crash space?”

“I figured it would be best, I adjusted the cabinet so the tech is separately accessible from this space. Red can stay here until he heals up completely, then we can figure out things from there.”

Ayano was next to chime in. “Does this mean you are letting him stay around, Kitsu?”

“As I said, until he heals up, I decided to let him stay. Giving him a nicer crash space seemed to be fair. I mean, The Den is about comfort after all. Let’s just say he is a guest here, just not one of our usual visitors. Do not worry, I will make sure he doesn't bother any of you.”

Finally Karin took her chance to speak up, placing a hand on her hip as she stood back up and leaned on her right leg. “As long as he does not bother us, I see no issue with this arrangement. It is your business, Kitsu. How long do you think he will be around for?”

“That I have no idea. I am not an expert in monster medicine, so I have no idea on his recovery time. He says he can heal if he conserves his magic, but with how severe he has been, it may take a bit. I will keep you all updated on what happens.”

The trio looked to each other and agreed. Kitsu spoke up once more, “Besides I want to get the room we have him in cleaned up and set for business. It is almost the weekend, so we may get a bit busy, and I want to make sure we have every room available.”

Ayano and Angela nodded, while Karin spoke up once more, a sly smile on her face. “So apparently you all have met this Red. When will I get to meet him? He sounds interesting, even if only a small thing.”

Kistsu stood, looked at his watch and smiled. “Well we open in two hours. What do you three say about going and getting our “guest” with me. That way we can have him in a more comfortable space before we start up.” Everyone agreed, and with that , they started back down the hall to where Red was.

\----------

When he heard the knob of the door turn and the squeak of the hinges it rode on turning, he pushed himself up. Were they bringing him food? About time. He was hungry. Finding his bit of stick he was using as a crutch, he used it to help him move to the edge. Pushing aside the edge of the blanket so he could look out, but not yet be seen, he checked for who all was coming in. His warden had a habit, he’d realized, of bringing in new people unannounced. Sure enough, there was someone new in the group this time. Groaning, he sunk against the side of the basket. He didn’t see food either.

\----------

Opening the door slowly, Kitsu led the trio into the room. Nothing had changed, as far as they could tell. The only question now was if Red was awake and/or still here. For all he knew he could have mustered his strength and took off. He would not be surprised if this was the case however. Red seemed like the type to do what he wants, and if he wanted to leave, well that was his prerogative. He gave a nod to the women and called out. “Hey Red, you awake?” 

\----------

“Ya got food?” Red replied, still not coming out. He couldn’t smell any and without food, he didn’t feel like coming out to be a spectacle. He may be bored, but not  _ that  _ bored. He was hungry though and just the thought of booze made his magic gurgle. He wanted it so bad, no matter how much it would mess with his healing.

\----------

“Um, not at the moment, I can probably get some in a short though.” Kitsu approached the table and crouched beside it. “How are you holding up?”

\----------

Pushing up the blanket enough to glare out of the darkness beneath it, just his eyelight visible, he growled, “No food, no chatter. I’m asleep.” and promptly dropped the bit of cover before digging into the bedding to cover himself again. Damn he was hungry… and miserable… and bored. Maybe he should talk to the new lady. At least it would be a break from this monotony of silence.

\----------

Kitsu let out a sigh, while Angela and Ayano chuckled. As Kistsu started to speak, Karin chimed in, with a smirk.. “If you want food, it can be arranged, but considering what Kitsu is doing for you, you may want to listen a little bit. Unless you enjoy hiding under those sheets?” The others looked to her for a second and they nodded as Kitsu spoke up. 

“Karin is right, Red, if you want to stay hidden in there you are more than welcome to. Or we can talk, maybe get you food, and some better comfort.” His eyes locked onto the top of the basket, waiting to see his response.

\----------

“What can-?” Red stopped himself as he realized he was being drawn into a conversation. Baiting him with antagonism was a perfect way to get him to talk. When had they figured that out? “Fine.” He snapped, grabbing his stick and poking at the ceiling of his little den and pulling himself back out of the blankets he’d buried himself in. “Better be worth it.” He muttered as he pulled himself upright at the edge of the basket and carefully let himself out, using his crutch to support his weight. “So whatcha got for me? What can be more comfortable than what ya already gave me? That nest is the best thing I’ve ever felt. Ya can’t be tellin’ me ya got somethin’ better.” He didn’t stray far from his nest. They weren’t gonna take it away, where they?

He looked to the girls, singling out the one who had spoken by recognizing she was the only one he’d never heard before. “An you, wha’s he doin’ for me? Don’ get me wrong, warden’s nice an all, but I’m jus’ passin’ through. He don’ wan’ me in ‘is Den. Soon’s I get better, I’m out on my tailbone. Leastways that’s what I gathered.” His eyelights flickered back to Kitsu, not entirely sure but pretty positive.

\----------

The trio of women shot glances at Kitsu at the last statements that Red had made. “Hey boss,” Angela piped up, “I do not ever recall hearing you say you did not want him in The Den.”

Ayano followed up. “And never did you say you were gonna kick him out, did you?”

Karin, kept silent, just watching the bitty skeleton. Kitsu leaned back on his legs and looked at Red. “I think we need to clarify a few things. While you have been a pain at some points, I am not going to give you the boot out of here, Red. I can tell you are still not completely healed, and I cannot in good conscience tell you to leave while still injured, not like I was going to in the first place. Once you recovered, I would talk about what you wanted to do, but it sounds like you have decided for yourself.” 

Kitsu stood up, though his legs were a little shaky. “However, that does not change the fact that I did take the liberty of setting up a more comfortable space for you to stay in until you are healed up. That is what Karin was mentioning about what I have done for you. The Den is a place of comfort, for any of our inhabitants, and that includes you.” His face was serious, but compassionate. “If you like, we can move you out there right now., what do you say?”

\----------

“You weren’t gonna kick me out? But why let me stay? Not that I’m ungrateful.” He was quick to add the last bit, not wanting to offend these humans. It was a lot to take in that they may actually want him here. Would they seriously let him stay? Then it hit him. “This isn’t some elaborate trap to set me up as an exhibit or dump me on the street, is it?” Of course they wouldn’t tell him if it was, but their body posture and faces would if they were anything less than professionals at acting. There was no way humans could be this nice. It just wasn’t possible. He took a tentative step back, gripping his little crutch tighter.

\----------

Kitsu just smiled, and shook his head. “No, no, Red. No tricks. You leaving at this point is on you, but given how you are still on the mend, I think it would be safer to let you stay here and let you recover. Of course there are a few small stipulations, but nothing over the top. Once you are fully recovered, then we can talk about possibly extending your stay or you can just head out on your own. I think that is all fair, don’t you agree, Red?” 

Kitsu glanced over to the three women. “Ladies, what about all of you? Of course I will ask the rest of the staff later as well. But as for you three, what do you all think.”

Ayano and Angela were in total agreement, mentioning how Red has not been any major issue for them and such. Angela voiced a small interest in Red’s abilities. Karin, however, crossed her arms, and let out a sigh of her own. “As long as he does not come barging into my room, especially when I have a client, I see no problem. I am curious as to your level of care and concern for this strange little thing…” She leaned over for a slightly better look at Red, “but I do trust your judgement, Kitsu.”

\----------

“Who’re you calling a thing, lady?” Red demanded outraged. “And how da fuck is I suppos ta barge in on ya damn room?!” He was livid with the accusations thrown at him. The most he’d done was nick some alcohol for stars sake! Looking to Kitsu, he spoke honestly. “Ah don’ like that one one bit!” He bit out harshly, regardless of her presence. In his anger, his accent became more pronounced, cutting his words and making him harder to understand.

\----------

Kitsu shook his head with a smile. “First time she has seen you, Red, so she does not know what you are capable of. She is just being herself, so do not hold it against her. So with that out of the way, shall we move you out of here, then?”

\----------

“Ah’m three fuckin’ inches tall. Wha’ she think I’m gonna do? Steal her mints? I got two broken legs and half a dozen ribs on the mend. I ain’ doing jack shit.” Sighing and throwing another glare at her, he sighed and hobbled closer to the edge, careful not to get too close. “Fine, gimme a sec ta get down.” Once he was close enough to the side with the plant and judging the space carefully, he used the crutch to help his momentum, what little he could build up in his broken body, and launched himself off the table, catching a large leaf and slowly sliding down only to catch another. He repeated the process the whole way down until he finally fell the last eight inches to the floor, swearing colorfully in pain and curling up as he fought to clear his head.

\----------

They watched him land, each of them shuddering when he landed. “You sure you do not want someone to carry you, Red?” Angela spoke up, concern in her voice.

While Red was being checked on, Kitsu leaned over and moved the cover off of Red’s nest. The fillings were shredded and tainted red from his injuries. The monster was in rough shape for sure. Hopefully, he would be able to mend himself soon. Not to rush him away, but because Kitsu did not like seeing Red suffer like that. He straightened himself, though as he reached his full stature, he leaned back against the wall, his head in a slight daze.

Karin looked over puzzled, and silently lipped, “You ok?” Kitsu just nodded, shaking his head to regain some composure as he stood straight again. “Well then...how about we take him out to the front area?”

\----------

“Don’t touch me!” He snapped instantly when Angela offered to help. He couldn’t see through the haze of pain whether she was coming closer or not and instinctively summoned a wreath of sharp bones around himself for protection. Seconds later they clattered to the ground harmlessly and disappeared. He was too weak to even keep up a measly defense. At least it gave him a few more seconds to catch his breath and begin to get his vision straightened out. 

Using his crutch which he’d never lost hold of, he pushed himself unsteadily to his feet and mindful of all of theirs, limped his way towards the door on the other side of the table. He had a small treck ahead of him and it wasn’t going to be pleasant. He paused by the feet of Angela though and muttered an apology, but didn’t wait to see if she had heard him from so far above him. He had never felt so small and weak as he did right now, surrounded by their huge feet. One wrong move and he’d be Dust.

\----------

Karin opened the door for them, allowing Red to exit the room safely. Her dark eyes watched him trod out and down the hall. Ayano and Angela followed soon after, stepping aside for Kitsu to pass by them all, seeing as he needed to show Red where his private space was. However, he was stopped for a moment by Karin. “Hey, you sure you're ok?” The other women looked as well, slightly concerned. “Yeah, the medication for my hand is wearing me out a bit. I will not need another dose for the rest of the night, so I should be fine.” 

He received a hand on his shoulder from Ayano, “If you need anything, just let us know, ok?” The others nodded in support of Ayano’s offer

“Thank you, ladies. It means alot to me.” With a reassuring smile, Kitsu started to slowly walk down the hall, allowing Red to take his time and not cause more issues to himself. 

Once in the main entrance way, Kistsu carefully stepped around Red to where he was before near the sliding panel. Once Red was there, he slid it open and showed him a rather comfy and clean looking space. It had a miniature bed for resting and a strip of LED lights along the ceiling leading to a small button on the wall to turn them on and off. It even had a small table and chairs. It looked like something you would see in a diorama piece, only higher quality. It was nothing fancy, but it was better than a basket of shredded cloth or the backside of a cabinet. “Well, here you go, Red. I made you your own little room here. What do you think?” Kitsu asked, a tone of sincerity and a little excitement in his voice.

\----------

Stepping up to it, Red looked around, trailing his claws lightly over the furniture and then the bedspread. “Why would you go this far for a lazy pest like me?” He asked, voice cracking as he choked up. He kept his back to them to hide his face and hopefully his emotions. Nobody ever went this far for him. What the hell was up with these humans?! “Where did you even get this crap?” His hand sank into the plush bed, not that he could see through the sea of red tears that clogged up his vision. This had to be some sort of cruel joke. It just had to be.

\----------

Kitsu let out a small laugh. “No jokes, Red. The Den provides comfort to those who are inside of it. It is no different in your case. Figured since you kept saying you wanted somewhere private, this would be a good spot. Besides, I do not open this cabinet as much as the area under my podium, so you will have a bit more privacy. You are free to relax and recover here.”

“As for where he got those items, Red.” Ayano spoke up. “Kitsu has a small knack for building models and such, usually with some custom work involved. He either had those available or built them himself.”

“And considering I left Kitsu here a few hours ago, if he built them, he did it quickly.” Angela spoke up.

“That is our Kitsu, kind and clever.” Angela muttered, leaning against the wall with a smile. She followed up her previous statement with a simple question. “So what do you think, Red?” 

\----------

“Bu’ why? I ain’ one a ya. Why would you help a monster?” His legs were becoming painful so he grabbed a chair on reflex to sit down. He stared at his hands, afraid to see the pity on their faces. He didn’t want pity. He didn’t know what he wanted, but it wasn’t that. It was worse than contempt, but on the flipside, it kept him from getting Dusted. “I mean, it’s nice an all. Hell, it’s fuckin’ great work, but wha’d I do ta deserve it? I mean, hell, I bit da warden, stole booze and food, and this is what I get? Back home that’d get me damn near Dust fer bein’ caught. People ain’t this nice wi’out som’at in it fer dem.” He scrubbed at his face with his jacket sleeve, clearing away the heavy magic that fell from his sockets. What the hell was wrong with him. Crying? Really? He never cried, that was weak and for the weak.

\----------

“You are not back in your mountain, Red. Things are different outside of the world you know. Not all humans are cruel, as you may believe. Sure you may have caused some issues, and injured me, but regardless, we are giving you a space to stay where you can be comfortable while you recover. All we ask is to just not cause any issues during our operating hours. Sounds ok to you?”

\----------

“Can’t really get up to much righ’ now anyway. Not in the mind ta get stepped on either. Din’ come out even before ya found me durin’ ya work hours. I prefer the quieter times. Less likely ta get crushed then, ya know.” His magic gurgled at him again, causing a hand to grip his jacket over his non-existent abdomen. “If it’s all the same to ya, I’m gonna lay down. Ya c’n stare at me later.” Forcing himself to his feet with a groan, wincing at the grinding of his sheared feamers, he limped the few steps to the bed and crawled into it, resisting the urge to shred the covers. Once he was covered though, he waited to hear them move away. He didn’t want to let them know that the lack of food after his excessive use of magic the day before was really taking a toll on him. He wasn’t ready to admit even more weakness.

\----------

“Yeah, you rest Red. I hope you feel better.” With that and a small polite bow, he slid the panel closed, leaving Red to his rest. Standing back up, using his podium as an assist, he smiled and sighed. “Welp that is that. Red can rest for a while, at least until I get him some food.”   
  


“Good idea, poor thing looks really weak. Want me to go out to the bar and place an order for something?” Angela asked. 

Kitsu responded with a nod, “Sure, get two to three beef skewers. Have them put it on a tab, and I will send money later. If you at all want anything, go ahead and order for yourselves.”

“Really, thank you Kitsu!” Angela gave him a hug. “Anyone want to come with me for anything?”

Ayano nodded. With that, the two girls left through the curtain, leaving Kitsu and Karin alone. She looked over at Kitsu, the panel concealing Red, and back to Kitsu, before moving to lean on the front of the podium. “So, level with me, Kitsu. It is rare to see you put so much effort into something outside of the business. And you seem to be doing a lot for that strange little guy. So tell me...why? Why the effort and such? It’s just been...awhile since you acted like this.”

Kitsu leaned on the opposite side of the podium, and locked gazes with Karin. “Karin, you have known me a while, so I know what you are saying, completely. It is hard to put completely into words to explain, but to say it simply: I do not like to abandon someone who just needs some kind of help, and if I can provide that, well I will. Red is no exception.” He broke the gaze and stared off into the void for a moment before finishing his statement. “Let’s just say it is how I was raised. He needs help, so why not help.” He let out a sigh and smiled. “There is nothing to worry about, Karin. Thanks for asking.”

Karin gave a gentle smile, before straightening up, stepping behind the podium and placing a hand on Kitsu’s shoulder. “Like I said, it has been a while since I have seen you like this. Reminds me of how you helped me out. This is just like you, Kitsu, and I am glad to see that you are still you.” She leaned in and planted a friendly peck on his cheek before moving away back down the corridor. “I’ll be in the locker room getting my outfit and mask ready.” With that, she was gone leaving him alone.

He kept smiling as she left, shaking his head. “Yep...still the same person I have been since back then..” He stopped suddenly, as his train of thought was interrupted by a growl in his stomach. “I think I should go get some food myself.” With that, he passed through the curtain and headed for the bar.

\----------

Sliding back his panel to look up at where Kitsu had been quizzically, but never leaving his bed, Red spoke with a completely nonplussed voice. “I’m gonna puke. That was so cheesy. That isn’t a common thing, please tell me it ain’t.” When he noticed that the guy had already left, he sighed and slid the panel back shut with a grumble. At least he’d get to hopefully hear something interesting up here and he was still gonna be getting food. He supposed that food for sappy crap like that was well worth his time. He could handle it, for now at least. He hoped it wasn’t a constant though. It would quickly annoy the crap out of him.

\----------

Kitsu could not remember the last time he had been inside of the bar area during normal operating hours. Usually he would be busy getting things together inside of The Den, but for once, he was in good shape, even with everything going on with Red. After the small stroll through the hallway away from the entrance from the Den, he found himself amongst the buzzing and murmuring of the bar’s clientele. After a quick visual sweep of the area, he found Angela and Ayano standing at the end of the bar, just chatting and sipping on what looked like glasses of soda.

A few, small strides later and he was there with the women. After a quick look at the menu and giving an order, he looked to the women. With a wave of her hand, Ayano ordered a soda for Kitsu, handing it to him once it arrived. “I think you could use this, Kitsu. Night has not even started and you already look like you did your whole shift.” She gave a chuckle, and held up her drink. “Cheers!”

Angela and Kitsu gave the same greeting and clicked glasses together, and took a drink. “After a gulp, Angela piped up. “So you think Red will be ok with that setup you made?”

“Don’t see why not, but given how he is, I would not be surprised to see the bed shredded up at some point.”

“And after the work you did to make it for him, it would be a shame to see it ruined.” Ayano added between sips.

“What happens, happens. Let’s see how everything is after he heals up.”

Ayano set down her drink and wiped her lips with a finger. “So, are you really planning to kick him out, Kitsu?” With that question out in the open, both ladies stared at him awaiting a response…

~ Meanwhile back in The Den ~

As Kitsu passed through the curtains to leave, a cascade of dark red hair appeared around the corner. Karin’s eyes watched as Kitsu took his leave. Once she heard the entrance chime go off, she moved back into the front area and glanced about, her gaze falling on the panel that concealed Red. She smirked and knelt down nearby, letting out a calm call. “Looks like the boss is taking care of you pretty well, eh Red?”

\----------

Sighing heavily and debating on ignoring the lady, Red stared at his new ceiling. It wouldn’t hurt to talk to her. He was bored anyway. “What’s it to ya.” He asked through the panel, too lazy to get up and open it and not really feeling up to being stared at.

\----------

She lightly chuckled. "Well, I am just intrigued. While it is very much like him to act like this, Kitsu doesn't just do it for everyone. For some reason, something about you has grabbed his attention, and his caring nature. There is something that makes me wonder more about all of this though." She smirked and leaned her head closer to the panel, speaking with a more sultry voice. "What do you think of this whole ordeal, of us, of Kitsu? You definitely have some thoughts about this, don't you?"

\----------

Sighing, the edge of a growl leaking into his voice, he pushed himself up and reached over to slide the panel over. “What are you on about? You tryin’ ta get me ta say somethin’ that’ll get me the boot? All I knows is people seem to come into this back-room place to see pretty girls in masks and then go home to beat their meat over it. I just heard about ya from some drain pipes in the streets. Tha’ what yer lookin’ ta hear?” He held his ribs as he sat. All the movement today was certainly not doing him any favors.

\----------

Karin chuckled at his response, especially the ‘beating their meat part’. “Heard about us through a drain pipe? Something tells me you heard about the wrong place then, considering if this was the place you were looking for, then you would have more enjoyment with the women here instead of hiding. On top of that, you seem to have this idea about us kicking you out or finding a reason too, yet none of us have mentioned anything like that, now have we?” She shifted herself right in front of the panel and leaned in closer. “I personally think you hear what you want, and not what is actually being said, Red.”

\----------

Red narrowed his sockets, glaring at the woman who seemed to be trying to pick a fight with him. “Or maybe I heard about the right place and was scouting it out. Trying to see if it was what I heard about. Maybe I have a reason to fear for my life and not trust all you friggin’ giants.” He countered. He was also quickly realizing that while this little room Kitsu had set him up with was great and all, it also cornered him and gave him no way out of a confrontation like this one without having to teleport and having no magic as he was right now, he was as weak as he could get without Dusting on the spot. Maybe he shouldn’t antagonize her, but she had started it, dammit!

\----------

“My my, well whatever you heard about this place I hope was accurate. Though I am not sure what you should fear from a few women and a kind male. You can believe what you want, Red. Just remember, not every rumor you hear is true, and not everything you may believe is either.” WIth that she quietly stood and looked to the curtain as a chime went off. ‘Well sounds like they are on the way back.’ She thought as she looked once more to the panel, and silently strode back down the hallway to the rooms.

~ Minutes earlier back at the bar ~

“So anyway that is the plan for Red. What do you both think?” Kitsu said as he took another drink from his soda.

Angela leaned against the bar with a nod. “Sounds like a fair plan to me.” Ayano nodded in agreement. “We will just have to see how he is, I guess.” She lifted a hand, flagging the bartender for one more drink. “Do you think he will be ok with it all, Kitsu?”

Kitsu nodded and smiled, “Honestly it is a toss up. He could go for it or he could just flat out say no. Decisions will be based on him, I just have the final say.” He let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes. He was still a bit tired, but he would make it through the shift and crash for a while, he thought as he glanced around the bar. 

It was rather busy, but not overbearing. A nicely mixed crowd of ages and genders, all just enjoying the atmosphere. He took note of people, preferably ones that could be possible clients for them. Not uncommon for clients to wait in the bar for The Den to open. A few figures were familiar and gave him a wave or a nod. Though one guy caught his eye or more of a case caught his eye before. 

A younger male, probably early twenties, was sitting at a high-top table against the far wall. Kitsu had noticed his eyes were set on Ayano and Angela, only looking to avert his gaze once Kitsu had stepped up to the women. It could be nothing, but the look the man gave did not seem to jive well with Kitsu. Making a small turn he slid up against the bar and between the women. They looked in confusion, but Kitsu just smiled. He started to let out a laugh, looking like he was having a fit over a joke. Though it was not a real laugh. Through his mock expression he muttered out some instructions to the women. After a moment and a quick double hug to Kitsu the ladies took their refilled drinks and sauntered arm in arm down the hall going to The Den.

He calmed down from his “fit” as he was tapped on the shoulder by a barkeep, specifically the owner of the bar. He had several containers of food ready for him. “You ok, Kitsu. Looks like you heard a real good joke.” Kitsu turned and leaned on the bar, shuffling for money to pay. As he counted out the money, he spoke to the owner. “The young guy, high top on the wall. He wasn’t giving the kindest glances to Ayano and Angela. Keep an eye and if he seems to be heading my way, message me.” A nod and an exchange of money was all that was needed. The food was slid over to Kitsu, and he gave a quick farewell, with one final turn so he could glance at the guy. He looked to be watching others, so now was as good a time as any to get back into The Den.

\----------

Red snarled quietly after Karin and debated on snapping his panel closed, but he had heard the chime that always seemed to go off when someone left or came in. Maybe Kitsu had his food. He’d mentioned that he would grab some for him. Moving from where he sat on his bed to the table and chairs, he gingerly sat, catching his breath at the pinch of pain. He really needed that food. His healing was suffering for the lack of it and so was his pain resistance.

As he sat, he took a closer look at the make of the furniture and couldn’t help being impressed. This was, by far, much better than the crap they’d made their stuff from back under the mountain. If the warden had really made these, then he had a fine and steady hand. There had to be more to him than just a book-keep, but he did say he was the head of the den, so he must have power too. That was just the way the world worked after all.

Thinking on what the bitch had said, he shook his head. Did she know nothing? ‘What could a few women and a male do?’ Ha, more like what could a few humans do. One swat, one step, one choice made that he didn’t know about and he’d be Dust or worse. He wouldn’t be dropping his guard anytime soon. He had a life to live and he didn’t plan on being at the mercy of these people forever.

\----------

Ayano and Angela scurried through the hallway, getting back to The Den. Before reaching the curtain, they took a quick look back to see if anyone else was there. “Creeps always ruin the fun times.” Ayano muttered, slightly discouraged.

Angela sighed in response, “Sadly. We can ask Kitsu more when he comes back, hopefully he will have our food. Not like him to just shoo us back, so there has to be a reason.” With that, they moved through the curtain and waited in the front area for Kitsu.

He was not far behind, wanting to make sure the food was still hot and the women were safe. He passed through the hall and through the curtain, the semi annoyed faces of Ayano and Angela greeting him. “Sorry about that, ladies. At least I have the food!” He huffed out a little bit, extending two of the containers to them. They took them, checked them and licked their lips. “It’s ok, but we do have to ask what was the issue?”

“I recognized the one patron out in the bar. He has been in The Den before, but let’s just say he was not too kind to the company he was given. Rather entitled bastard, he believed that paying for company meant he could do anything with them. As you know, that is not the case. I had to have him ejected from here for the safety of everyone.”

Ayano stared at Kitsu, “I remember that night...are you sure it was him? If so, I understand why you made us come back here.”

“He was eyeing you both up, but looked to be watching you, Ayano. Probably because you were here when it happened.”

Angela looked at both of them, starting to eat a small bit of her meal. “Guessing this was before I was hired?”

They nodded. “I can give details later. You should let Karin know as well, soon Kitsu.” Ayano chided. 

“I was already planning on...oh there you are Karin.” Kitsu cut himself off at the sight of Karin at the corner. She had a slight smirk on her face, yet her eyes were a bit pained. 

She spoke up, “Was wondering when you would be back. I need to talk to you about something..in private...if you do not mind.”

“Not at all, probably a good idea. Ladies, can you do me a favor and give this small container to Red for me?” Angela accepted the container and nodded, “No problem, go and have your chat. We will give this to Red and be down to the changing room to relax.”

With that, Kitsu grabbed the container with his food, as well as the soda he was enjoying and motioned for Karin to follow him down the hall and into the room Karin used regularly for the clients. The pair of females looked at each other, the container, and the panel, before moving to it. “Feels like we are feeding a pet or something, don’t you think?” Angela said with a chuckle. “Yep, definitely. Hey Red, we have some food for you, more beef skewers.” They waited for a reply, not sure if he was sleeping or not.

\----------

When he’d heard the hushed and worried tones of the women as they re-entered, he’d quietly slid his panel shut. If danger was abound, he wanted to be out of sight. After hearing what Kitsu said though, he felt his marrow boil. He may have been a useless alcoholic who liked his girls, but to go as far as it sounded like this creep had… If he had his magic back to capacity, that guy wouldn’t live to see the next sunrise.

His contemplation was broken when he heard Karin speak though, and he ground his fangs as he wondered how much of their conversation would be twisted. He really didn’t like her and the way she’d fled when the buzzer had gone off told him that she hadn’t wanted to be caught talking to him. She was too suspicious.

Sliding his panel back when he heard the other two girls who really did seem like sweethearts, even if the one was a bit too curious about his abilities, he growled, mostly to keep up pretenses at this point. He liked these two. “Who’re you callin’ a damn pet? I ain’ nobody’s, got it!” He glared at them, trying to keep his eyelights from straying to the food container and the alluring scent of the noted beef. Stars he was hungry.

\----------

“We said like, Red. Not that you are one.” They slid the panel to the side and slid the container into his ‘room’. Kitsu specifically told us to get the skewers as you seemed to enjoy them a lot.” Angela said with a reassurance in her voice.

“We hope you enjoy the food, Red. Relax and recover, ok?” With that they closed the panel up again, leaving Red to enjoy his meal in private.

While they gave Red his meal, Kitsu and Karin talked for a bit in one of the rooms for clients. A look of worry was on Karin’s face. Normally she was a confident person, but at this point she was far from it. “Kitsu...are you sure it was him?” Her eyes looked to Kitsu, pleading for the answer she hoped for.

He gave a solemn nod, “I recognized him, so yeah it’s the guy that tried to assault you. If you need to stay inactive, that is fine with me.”

“No...no that is alright. I still want to entertain the clients. And besides…” She wiped away some of the sweat on her forehead. “I know for a fact you would not let him anywhere near the rooms or us. You may be our boss, but you are our protector as well. We trust you, Kitsu, to keep creeps like that from causing any harm to us or the business.” At this point, she was slightly sobbing, her emotions running on high.

Kitsu moved over and gave her a hug, helping to calm her down, lightly running his hand along the back of her head. “The bar owner will let me know if the guy is seen coming this way. And I will make sure he gets shown the door as quickly if he shows up. Just let me know if you need anything, ok?”

She just gave a nod. “I will.” She took a drink from Kitsu’s soda, and cleared her throat. “Well, with that out of the way, I did have to talk to you about something…”

\----------

When they slid the panel shut on him, leaving him in the dark with his food and alone, he felt something strange in his chest. Had he actually wanted them to stay? To talk to him? That was insane. His hunger must be getting to him. Turning on the light Kitsu had installed for him, he figured out how to open the container and after some struggle and reopening some of the wounds on his chest where he’d had to bandage his ribs, he got it open. Pulling one morsel of meat off the skewer with his hands, he began eating. It was messy, but he didn’t have utensils and didn’t really care. He could lick his bones clean when he was done. He was just so hungry and the beef really hit the spot. He could already feel it being dissolved into his magic and strengthening it, his fatigue fading bit by bit and his pain starting to fade again.

Quietly, so that nobody who might be eavesdropping would hear, he quietly whispered a thank you to the girls and Kitsu for their assistance. He really would be Dust by now without their help and he couldn’t deny it any longer.

\----------

The conversation between Karin and Kitsu lasted only a few minutes. Once they finished Kitsu nodded, his arms crossed. “Alright then, I will take care of that when I can, alright? Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Karin.”

She smiled and bowed her head, “Thank you very much, Kitsu. I hate to be that kind of person, but…”

He raised his hand to silence her, “No apologies, you're just looking out for The Den. It is appreciated and again thank you. If we are done, I think I will go eat.” He gave a bow, and turned to the door, opening it. There in the way was Angela and Ayano, looking awkwardly embarrassed over being caught. “Ladies, do you need something?” Kitsu asked.

“Um...we were wondering if we could join you two and eat together...I mean it’s been a while…” Angela sputtered out. Karin let out a laugh from behind Kitsu. “Sure, come on in let’s enjoy the company.”

Kitsu looked at the pair and then Karin, he dropped his head and smiled. “All right, let’s eat and then get ourselves ready. I will send out a message for the others to know about the issue and where we are. Let’s eat and relax!” With a joined cheer, they all sat around and enjoyed their food and chatted with each other. Before they knew it however, it was about time for the night to begin anew.

\----------

The cheers from down the hall only darkened his mood further. Continuing to tear into his supper, he finished off one of the skewers before setting the other two to the side and licking his bones clean. Once he was sure all the grease and gravy were gone, he turned off his little light before fumbling to his bed and lying down on top of the covers. He had to get well soon. He couldn’t keep relying on these people and the way he’d been trapped earlier with Karin still shook him to his core. That exchange hadn’t felt friendly at all. As he was thinking, he dozed off, not even noticing as his pain was finally gone after almost a whole day. It was nice.

\----------

Everyone was on a high alert, but this did not stop them from doing their work. The woman had their clients, some of them regular guests which gave the workers a sense of calm and relief. Kitsu did his usual thing of welcoming the guests, and setting them up with the women. Every so often he would glance over towards the ponel, wondering if Red was awake and eating or recovering with some rest. 

He hoped the food worked out for him, and from what Angela and Ayano said, he looked to be very enticed about it. Living things need food, and Red was no different. When the first question he had was, “Do you have food?” Kitsu knew he had to do something for him. His curiosity was peaking and he moved to potentially check on Red, but as he was about to, the chime went off and another client entered. Straightening his mask, he awaited the client. To his surprise, it was not a client, but the owner of the bar. “Evening. Is there an issue.”

The middle aged man rubbed the back of his head, “Just an update on that guy you mentioned. When things died down, he came over asking if The Den was still in operation. I told him yes, but you were members only now. Asked him for his card to buzz him in, and of course he did not have one. Gave him a run around, and he left in a huff. You should be good though, still watch out.”

Kitsu lifted his mask to let out a sigh. “Good, I already talked to everyone and they are aware that he was back. I also informed Karin, and she is doing ok. Thanks for the coverage.”

“He smiled and nodded, “Hey never a problem, Kitsu.” He turned around with a wave and started to head out. Kitsu gave a small call out, “You could have messaged me, you know?”

“I could have, but maybe I wanted to check in on you. Your ladies are a bit worried about you. Besides, after we close up, I may come back for some comfort.”

“You know you are always welcome in The Den, sir. Take care and hope to see you later.” Kitsu gave a final bow as the man moved through the curtain. “That is a relief. I hope it stays that way. With that done, he leaned on his podium, and stared back at Red’s panel. With a shrug, he gave a light call out. “You ok, Red?

\----------

Hearing his name, Red snorted and rolled over, falling out of the bed and swearing colorfully. Pushing himself upright, he shook his head and listened to see if he could hear anything. When he didn’t, he shed his jacket and t-shirt so he could check on and fix his bandages. They were stiff and a few he could see the marrow had bled through at some point. He’d have to see about getting more material. While he could shred his new bed, he kind of didn’t want to. It was nice. He’d ruin it eventually in a nightmare, but for now, he wanted to keep it. 

Looking down at his legs, he was relieved when he noticed the pain in them was gone. It might just be his magic had numbed it for now, but they felt better. He’d wait to remove the bandages until he had more, just in case. Pulling back on his shirt, he moved himself to a chair and sat, grabbing another skewer and munching on the meat.

Once he finished half his skewer and still hadn’t heard anything, He put the rest back into it’s plastic box and grabbed his jacket, slipping it on before zipping it shut. It wasn’t like he was cold, it just provided some decent padding. Catching the edge of the panel, he moved it slightly, enough to see out and make sure he wasn’t coming out when he wasn’t supposed to. Seeing Kitsu’s legs, he guessed he had woken while the place was still working. Well crap, that knocked out his idea of trying to get back to his nest for some scraps for bandages. Maybe later he could try. Sliding the panel shut again, he walked back to his bed, feeling crowded and trapped, but mostly bored. This place was a drag, but it was nice at the same time. It was completely foreign. 

Slipping his jacket off again, he hung it on a bed post and resigned himself to laying in bed for a few more hours looking up at his dark ceiling and trying to get more sleep. He never had any trouble falling asleep at work, this shouldn’t be much harder. Sure enough, he was out in minutes, dreaming of his past and his brother who he’d happily left far behind.

\----------

Kitsu kept his gaze fixated on the panel, but when he did not hear any response he just shrugged. “I guess Red is resting then…” With that he shrugged and turned back to his podium. Reaching underneath the top of the podium, he pulled out a ledger and started to go over and add information. These moments of quiet were a perfect time for him to run numbers and such. Well it was quiet until he received a buzz in ear from the speaker in his mask.

“This is Kitsu, go ahead.”

“Kitsu, Karin here. Client is about to leave, but wants me to escort him to the gateway. Is there any word for the “VIP”.

“Negative, bar owner says guy left.”

“Ok thank you...If you are ready sir, I can escort you out.”

With that the line went dead. Kitsu smiled behind his mask and waited for them to appear. In less than 5 minutes, the pair was in the front foyer, with the client, a middle aged businessman, standing in front of Kitsu’s podium. Karin bowed and moved next to Kitsu. “Thank you for seeking comfort in The Den. We await your return.” Her mask concealed the bit of nervousness she was feeling, but she was still glad she did her job, and did it well.

Kitsu nodded at Karin and faced the man. “I assume everything was acceptable, sir?” The man responded with a nod and a smile. “Karin is a wonderful woman to spend time with. She just loves my stories, and she makes me so relaxed. What is my charge, Kitsu?” With a few quick calculations, and an exchange of money. The man bowed and took his leave.

“Good job as usual, Karin. He really enjoys you.”

“He was not lying when he said I enjoy his stories. He travels a lot on business, so he gets to experience a lot. It’s nice...So the guy cleared out?”

“Bar owner said he asked about The Den, but said it was only for members. The guy gave him a huff, but left after not getting anywhere.”

“Good. Makes me calm down a bit. I will go relax in my room until another client enters.” With that she bowed and moved down the hall.

Kitsu watched her leave and went back to locking away the money from the client. “So far so good.” Was all he could say as he continued with his business.

\----------

Waking again, Red grumbled and turned over. He just knew that enough time hadn’t passed for him to be up. His mind was awake and his body was restless, but he couldn’t  _ do _ anything. Hearing a muttering just outside his moveable wall, he pushed himself up and grabbing his shirt, foregoing the jacket for now, he opened the panel a crack to find Kitsu rummaging in the cabinet that he’d been staying in. 

“Ev’rythin’ alright warden?” He asked, letting his personal name for Kitsu slip accidentally as he wasn’t completely coherent yet.

\----------

Kitsu closed the safe as he heard Red speak up, and turned to face him, closing the cabinet. “Hey, Red. Yes, everything is alright, just had a client leave so putting their money away. How are you feeling, and how was the food?”

\----------

“Food’s good, thanks.” He yawned largely, flashing his gold tooth. “Startin’ ta feel better as well. Figure once things close down I’ll try ta get back to my nest so I c’n get more a those cloth strips to replace mine. Marrow gets stiff an’ uncomfortable af’er a bit.” He explained, swiping at a socket absently, sitting on the floor of his space and letting his legs hang out rather than stand or open the panel more to use one of his chairs.

\----------

Kitsu leaned back against the podium. “If you want, I can get you some fresh cloth to make strips from if you need them. It is good to hear you are feeling better though.” Kitsu cracked his neck, the sight a little strange with a mask not making an expression. “Are the accommodations I set up ok for you? Need anything?”

\----------

“Why bother? I already shredded the material in my nest, most of it down to the size I need. New cloth I’d jus’ ‘ave to shred again. Dats more work. As fer what ah need, eh, don’t worr’ ‘bout it. Won’ madder tsune ‘nough.” Red looked away, again hating his uselessness at the moment due to his weak magic. If he were able to teleport, he wouldn’t be trapped when confronted and that was really the biggest issue with his new lodgings. At least with the nest he’d felt a bit safer even though only a piece of material hid him from the world. Well, that and a door which seemed to keep the others away better than this little panel.

\----------

Though Red could not see it, Kitsu looked a bit puzzled. “Won’t matter soon enough? You seem to have some issues, Red, so how about you tell me what is wrong?”

\----------

Snorting in disbelief, Red stared up at his warden. “Ya gotta be kidden me. Jus’ up and spill my non-existent guts outta nowhere? Look, ah get dat you are doin’ a buncha shit fer me an ah appreciate it. Really, I do, but besides the fact that dis is yer den and yer all ‘bout carin’ an shit, why care about a two-bit pest like me? Wha’s in it fer you?” He was still trying to find the catch to all this safety and help. There just had to be one.

\----------

“What’s in it for me?” Kitsu tilted his head in thought, bringing a finger to tap the side of his mask. “Hmmm...really nothing to be honest.” His statement was simple and blunt, but to the point. “While yes you have been a pest and a disruption to a degree, you have not been a real problem for us.” Kitsu moved closer to the wall and crouched down. “And considering how injured you have been, I see no issue in taking care of an injured creature.”

He let out a sigh. “I noticed you keep calling me “warden”, if you think I am trying to keep you a prisoner or something like that, well trust me when I say I am not. I am just trying to give you a comfortable place to rest and recover from your injuries. Is that such a bad thing?”

\----------

Baring his teeth instinctually when Kitsu got closer, Red had to force himself to listen to reason and to the words the man spoke. “I-I suppose ya haven’t. Could ya, could ya back off please?” He hated to ask as it made him feel weak, but that feeling of being cornered was coming back and he liked that even less than feeling weak. He insecurely wrapped an arm around his chest as he braced his other against the wall of his room.

\----------

Kitsu chuckled at the request. Noting Red’s body posture, he shuffled back a bit. “I can tell you're scared, Red. If you feel that way, that is you, but I am not trying to scare you or anything like that. I am just trying to help.”

\----------

Shaking his head, he considered admitting the truth. Would he be brushed off as a tattle tale on the girls? They were Kitsu’s own kind after all. How much should he even tell the man? Just his troubles here in the den? The troubles with his sleep? About his brother and the mountain? He didn’t know where to start, to finish, what even to say. “What do you want to hear?”

\----------

He straightened up, his legs a little wobbly, and braced himself with the podium. “All depends on what you want to tell me, Red. I really do not know what to ask, outside of what I asked before that is.”

\----------

“Uh, could I ask a question instead? Did, did Karin say anythin’ when she pulled ya aside?” He figured that was as good a place to start as any. After he’d snapped on her, he didn’t really know what she’d report to the obvious leader of the den. It should have been enough to put him out on the street, but that hadn’t happened. Maybe she hadn’t said anything and he could smooth it over before it got nasty if he was lucky. “Jus’ wond’rin’.”

\----------

Kitsu’s expressionless face just stared at Red, head tilted slightly. “She did. She said that you seem to be conflicted over everything, but besides that…” He stopped for a second and smiled behind his mask. “...she did say you seemed like a pretty cool guy and should relax a bit more. She is a good judge of character.”

\----------

Spluttering, Red’s sockets widened, showing more black around his small red eyelights. “Dere is no way dat bi-, that she said that!” Red countered, catching himself before he slurred the girl in front of Kitsu. He’d made it clear he didn’t like the girls demeaned. “Well, guess so long as she din’ mark me off, she can’ be too bad.” He sighed and if his ribs weren’t so sore, would have flopped back to stare at the ceiling. “You humans are so weird. Back ‘ome, I woulda been beaten, kicked out, an left fer dead if not straight up dusted fer ‘alf da shit ah done did here. Ah can’t make ‘eads nor tails of any of this.” He admitted, gesturing around him before going back to holding his chest. It really hurt and was starting to ache more. 

Pushing himself to his feet with a hiss, he walked back into the darkness to retrieve a piece of meat off the skewer and came back so he could eat and continue the conversation. He loathed to admit it, but he was enjoying being able to talk to someone. It wasn’t something he could do back home, that was for sure.

\----------

“Well, life is different around here than in your mountain, from what I can assume. We have pretty mean and nasty people here too, but you just happened to end up around the nicer group of humans. And no Karin did not mark you, said you were a brat, but nothing negative about you at all.”

At that point, a chime was heard. The sound of someone entering. “Guess we will have to continue this conversation a bit later, Red. Business is business, sadly. He turned himself and adjusted his mask awaiting the client. “Welcome, sir. You have found your way into The Den this evening, What sort of…” Kitsu’s voice stopped and his eyes went wide. A sound almost like a growl came out from behind Kitsu’s mask as he spoke “Can I help you, sir?” The man he had marked earlier was standing in the gateway, and in The Den. 

\----------

About to slide his panel shut, Red paused at hearing even a hint of unpleasantness enter the den-lord’s voice. Who the hell was out there? Decided to chance moving around more on his possibly healed legs, he instead grabbed his jacket and zipped it on before slipping out of his space. Carefully and quietly, he watched to make sure Kitsu hadn’t noticed him moving and snuck around to the edge of the podium to get a look at the unwelcome guest. He was interested to say the least. Aggression was something he could understand completely. Was this the guy the girls had been talking about earlier before they’d left him to solitude or just someone Kitsu didn’t like for personal reasons? Ripping a bite out of his piece of meat he looked the guy over curiously.

\----------

The blonde guy spoke up, a cockyness in his voice. “Yeah I heard you have some hot chicks here you can pay for. Let’s just say I am interested.” He closed the gap to Kitsu’s podium.

“I see.” Kitsu’s voice tried to stay professional, but there was still a bite in it. “Do you have a membership card?” He asked, keeping with the barkeep’s story.

“Don’t need one, older guy who left here a short time ago told me when I asked. So, here.” He flopped a wad of cash on the podium. “How about you hook me up with one...maybe a sultry chick with dark red hair?” The smile on his face was villainous.

Kitsu looked at the money on his podium. He moved his hand over to it, and in one swift motion knocked it off it’s resting place and onto the ground. “Sir...your money's no good here…”

\----------

“Shit.” Red spat as the money fell not far from him and nearly tripped over himself to get out of the line of sight. Looking back over his shoulder to see if he’d been seen, he promptly ran into Kitsu’s heel. If it weren’t for the fact he’d had the air knocked out of him, he’d be loudly swearing up a storm. As it was, he had to shake tears of magic from his sockets and scramble for his cubby before he actually got himself in trouble for being out. 

Once he was back in, he unzipped his jacket and turned on the overhead light Kitsu had given him. Lifting his shirt, he groaned and shed both it and his jacket so they wouldn’t get marrow on them. He’d reopened his breaks with that stunt, and dropped his food. What a waste.

\----------

The guy looked at the money on the floor and sneered. “What the hell man? You want money, I want a hot chick for a few hours...it’s win win bro!”

“I would have to disagree, sir. Considering I remember you very well, and how you partially traumatized one of my employees in the past. Maybe you were so busy listening to the police as you were being escorted out, that you did not hear me tell you to stay away and never come back. The only winning situation here is for you to leave now!” The bite in his voice was becoming sharper.

The man grinned remembering the time Kitsu mentioned. “I paid for her, she was my whore...not my fault you have a warped business sense.” He grabbed the sides of the podium and leaned in. “At least I do not need to hide myself behind a door and a mask.”

\----------

Growling and holding his chest, he knew he was going to regret this, but this guy had it coming. When he grabbed the podium, it shook Red’s room and that was the last straw. Using his rage to enhance his magic, Red sent out a pulse, looking for the life magic in those around him and found the blonde male’s rather easily. After that, it was simple work to send a small spray of sharp, needle like bones into the soft, sensitive tissue between his toes. It was all he could do right now and it nearly knocked him out, but he couldn’t do nothing. He was the fucking Judge of the Underground. No way was this bastard getting away with sexual harassment or, if he understood properly, much worse, in his presence.

\----------

The staredown of the blondie and Kitsu was tense. Just as tense as Kitsu’s arms were getting as he tried to keep his professional form and not smash the guy into the podium. God, he did not feel like having the podium fixed…he felt something hit his foot, but ignored it. “I may hide, but I keep my people safe. Especially from trash like you.” With that, he moved his foot to a small button on the podium base, and the sounds of bolts moving into place echoed through the halls.

At that moment, the guy shrieked in pain at the effect of Red’s action, stomping his foot, all while panic stricken looked about at the sound. “What the fuck is going on??”

Kitsu smiled behind his mask, though his breathing was getting a little ragged. “As of now we are closed, so you can take your leave now. If you need me to simplify my request...GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY DEN!” 

\----------

Lying on his floor, breathing heavily after the use of his magic, Red grinned wide and laughed. “Take that fucker.” He huffed, doubting he’d be heard, but still enjoying the miniscule victory. He wasn’t completely useless, well, he was now, but he’d made an impact. It would set him back a little, but it was worth it. He’d probably get in trouble for doing shit during hours, but he didn’t care.

\----------

The blonde guy sneered and cursed. “You can’t treat a customer like this!”

“I can, I have, and I will. Scum like you have no place here in The Den. I welcome monsters and oni before I would welcome you. They at least have some form of compassion and respect, unlike you.”

With that, Kitsu pointed to the Gateway and yelled again. “Get out, or I call the police!”

The other guy was starting to turn red from anger at the treatment. “Fuck you, fox face.” At that moment, he took a swing at Kitsu’s mask. Unbeknownst to the idiot, Kitsu was expecting this and leaned out of the way. As he leaned back in, he collided with a solid headbutt to the guy with his mask. The impact sent him reeling, tumbling back through the curtains. 

Kitsu rubbed the spot where the mask and the guy’s head collided, feeling the cracks and missing pieces from his action. He hated to break the mask, but it was worth it. Seeing the guy was now out of sight, Kitsu grabbed his phone hurriedly and called the local police, his voice a bit ragged.

\----------

Once his breathing began to even out, Red grabbed the bedpost and pulled himself up, gritting his teeth against the strain on his broken ribs. He needed to eat again. Having low magic really sucked. How did the rest of the Underground do anything? Now that it sounded like everything was done, he pulled open his panel while sitting and eating, just to check on the big guy. This had been fun, finally. He didn’t even think about the fact he didn’t have his shirt on like normal or that he was bleeding through his bandages again.

\----------

“Damn it you bastard!” Was all Kitsu could hear from the other side of the gateway, followed by the sounds of footsteps running down the hall, and the exit chime going off. With that, Kitsu started to work on calming down, but for some reason his head was spinning. The impact? He had no idea what was going on, but he was getting very drowsy. He slid his foot to unlock The Den, but just as he did, he suddenly fell to the floor, breathing heavily. The impact from the fall shattered more of his mask, sending slivers of porcelain across the floor. “Shit...

\----------

“Uh, Kits? Red asked as he saw him slump against the wall, jumping when he slid to the floor. He hadn’t missed the way he’d tried to step on the large, by his approximation anyway, button under the podium. Dropping his food, he put his entire weight into pushing it to unlock the rooms. Before rushing off to one that he knew had a girl in it from when he’d last been running around. He couldn’t teleport, but maybe he could make enough noise. 

Once he reached the door, he was breathing hard, his bandages completely soaked through now, but that didn’t matter. The only one who’d kept him alive this whole time had just collapsed, he could handle a little pain and marrow loss. “Hey! Hey!! Karin! Ayano! Angie! Somebody! Fox-face just collapsed! Girls!” He yelled as loud as he could manage, even through the pain it caused to expand his ribs to do so. He wasn’t even sure this was one of their doors. There were a good number of girls he hadn’t met yet. He knew that, he just hoped he found one he did so he didn’t have to worry about the questions right now.

\----------

Karin was startled by the sound of the rooms being locked down, even more so when it went off again. She moved towards the door, stopping as she heard Red’s voice from the hall. “What…?” With that she opened her door and peered out to see a panicking Red. She called out to him asking what had happened, and after a quick recount of what happened, she quickly scooped up Red and headed back to the Gateway.

Once around the corner, she dashed next to KItsu, placing Red down as gently as she could, and worked to get him up into a sitting position against the wall. He was breathing, but not conscious, She removed the remains of his mask and kept him propped up. With his mask in hand, she quickly activated the radio in it. “Attention everyone, we have an emergency, please dismiss your clients. Anyone who can get to the Gateway please do so. Kitsu is down...I repeat...Kitsu...is down…”

\----------

“Uh, should I hide? I don’ know if fox-face actually told yal about me. Probably not the best way to break tha’ a monster is livin’ in ‘is podium.” Red asked, worriedly looking at the hallways as he knew the girls and clients would be arriving in moments.

\----------

Karin looked at him as she set the shattered mask down, and checked Kitsu’s pulse. “I would suggest for the moment you do.” She looked at the fluids on her hand. “You really hurt yourself again…” Her eyes had a look of compassion. She reached over and gave Red a small pat on the skull. “Recover yourself Red. Thank you for getting me out here so quickly.” As she finished, she could hear the chime and several footsteps approaching the Gateway. Several policemen entered, and immediately called for a medic as they gathered to check on Kitsu’s unconscious form.

\----------

“Just reope- Ey, no!” He yelped, ducking away from her pat. “Don’ go gettin’ soft on me girly.” He snapped as he ran away from her compassionate look. He preferred her being rough and tough. Once he got to his little space, he slid the panel mostly closed, keeping it just open enough to try to see what happened.

\----------

The area became busy with clients being escorted out, police taking information, medics attending to Kitsu. In one fell moment, the calmness of The Den, much like Kitsu’s mask, was well broken. The women watched as they took Kitsu out on a stretcher, everyone in a state of panic and despair. This was going to be a rough time for everyone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to drop a kudos, comment, and if you really like it, a bookmark so you can keep updated with chapter updates.
> 
> Feel free to follow me (Revy) on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Revharem), Tumbr (https://revharem.tumblr.com/), and soon will have a writer's page for direct Q&A on Facebook!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why did Kitsu collapse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I even need to put a language warning here? Really?
> 
> That aside, a real warning for you dedicated readers. Silvercrane, the main mind behind our people from The Den has requested a small hiatus. We hope it won't be too long. He wishes to put more effort into his art development and streaming. Hope and happiness for his success. Thank you for understanding.

Darkness., nothing but darkness. That was all Kitsu could see. He could feel a throbbing in his head, but he could not instinctively move his hand to feel around for an injury. Sounds merged into a confusing cacophony of panic stricken yells and sirens. This was all the male knew at the moment. Just as quickly as these descended upon him, everything changed, flipped to the opposite. He could see white, no pain, just a dull beeping. His eyes fluttered open, revealing to him a pale colored room, brightly lit. He slowly raised an arm and moved his head to look at it. There was an IV hooked up to him. It was then he realized where he was. No longer in The Den, but the local medical center. “Whe...where am I? Hello?” He murmured out dryly.

He could feel a straw pushed to his lips, and he inhaled cold water. After a good hit of the water, his eyes refocused, aiming towards the figure offering the drink. “Karin...what happened?” The female pulled the cup back and set it aside. “Good to see you awake, Kitsu. You worried everyone.” She gave his hand a squeeze to reaffirm she was there.

“How did I...get here?” The throbbing in his head started again, making his vision blurred. “Easy there, easy there.” Was all Karin could say, holding onto Kitsu’s hand a slight bit tighter. “Paramedics took you away, you had collapsed at your post. There were police as well, saying they were called in about an unruly client.” At the mention of the cops, Kitsu’s eyes went wide in shock. “That….that scum.” He tried to sit up, but hardly had the strength. Well that and Karin had a hand on his chest holding him down.

“Red said the guy you warned us about was around, and that you cussed him out. Apparently also headbutting him with your mask. That plus your collapsing explains why it was shattered. Though one thing puzzles me?” Kitsu stared blankly at her, “Why did you pass out like you did?” Kitsu just shook his head. “No idea…”

After a few minutes of sitting there in thought, there was a knock on the door. Karin acknowledged, and let the caller enter. She turned to see Ayano and Angela, and gave a smile. “The boss is awake, just do not be too loud now.” Their sullen faces brightened up as they moved to see Kitsu in his bed. The pair grabbed his other hand, inciting a small twinge of pain from the wound still there. “Oops, sorry Kitsu, forgot about that.” Ayano murmured. “At least we know he is awake.” Angela said with a chuckle

He shook his head weakly. “No...worries.” He glanced at the women, and stared at the ceiling. “Thank...you for...keeping...and eye on me…”

The trio all respond positively to his statement, the three all showing him that they were all present there in his time of tribulation. “We are here for you, Kitsu.” They all stated in unison.

\----------

Once everyone had left, Red came out again and stared at the Gateway. What had happened to Kitsu? He’d been being awesome and then he just collapsed. Had his bite on the man done more damage than he’d thought? Was monster magic actually poisonous to humans? Had he done this? Getting up and pacing the foyer, unable to sit still, he berated himself for being so stupid. Instead of pretending to be so tough, he should have healed that damn bite and removed the magic. Cursing someone was dangerous, he knew that! What if that smart lady, Angela, caught on to what he’d done? He would be totally Dust, but he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to know that Kitsu would pull through. He had developed feelings. He was fucked. 

His brother always said he was too soft and now it really was catching up to him. It was because he fell into company so easily that he nearly got literally chewed out by the dogi guards on multiple occasions, why he’d had such a high tab at the bar, why the captain hated his guts and her wife always tried to catch him for her freaky projects. He had some of the highest Mercy in the Underground, even for someone as dangerous as he was, he was also the softest other than the queen, but she was just delirious. Back home he’d be able to run away from or fight off whatever problems he ended up in, but here, everything was quite literally bigger than him and he couldn’t do anything except mess up.

“Oh Boss, what should I do this time? I really fucked up.” He punched the molding of the podium, swearing at himself and the situation. “I’m absolutely useless out here. Killing humans was so much simpler than trying to befriend them. They are freaking confusing and to top it off, they have dog mentalities. I never could understand those damn mongrels.” He spat.

\----------

The silence of the temporarily abandoned Den was broken by a light-hearted female voice coming from beyond the Gateway. “Well give my regards to Kitsu. I need to get things taken care of. I’ll come by and see the master later.” The voice belonged to a slim, yet fit female about twenty years old. Her blond hair was held back by a hair tie and a sweatband. She was carrying cleaning supplies and a duffle bag. After the woman disconnected her call, she slipped her phone into her duffle bag, and passed through the Gateway curtain.

She made her way past the podium, and glanced about the floor, eyeing the remnants of Kitsu’s mask strewn on the floor from the night prior. “Have to get them back to grandpa.” She moved down the halls and into the dressing room. She closed the door and set her items down on the benches. Opening the duffle bag, she ran her hands over the clothes inside of it. “Well, I guess it’s time to work on getting things in order.” With that thought, she undid the hair restraints, letting it flow down her back. She then started to slip off her tank top and shorts, swapping them out for the clothing in the bag.

After about ten minutes, the woman emerged again, though very different in appearance. Gone were the casual clothes she had come in with. She was now sporting a maid uniform and a pair of glasses now adorned her face. She carried the cleaning supplies out of the room, and closed the door behind her. She gave herself a once over and smiled. She felt good being in the maid uniform, much more than her casual clothes. Almost like it was natural for her to be in this outfit. She tilted her neck, letting out a small krick of the bones releasing their pressure. “Much better. Now where to begin?” Realizing the mask was still in pieces, she opted to head back to the Gateway and get all of it together the best she could.

\----------

Having gotten bored with berating himself, Red had started gathering the pieces of ceramic that had scattered. He figured he could piece them together like a puzzle for something to do in the meantime. Wasn’t like he could really do anything else and his legs still didn’t really hurt. His chest ached something fierce but laying around wouldn’t do him any good. He needed something to keep him from really thinking. He was so invested in his work that he hadn’t even noticed the girl enter from the gateway or pass him on her way to the lockers. He had managed to piece together about half the mask so far and was casting around for more pieces when he heard the well known cracking of bones. Someone else was here.

\----------

The woman turned the corner into the Gateway area and stopped dead in her tracks, almost leaving skid marks from her shoes on the wooden floor. There on the floor was a small skeletal creature, putting pieces of the mask together like a puzzle. She backed up a step or two and dropped her broom and bucket of supplies to the floor with a bang, her face a look of panic. She just stuttered for a few over her words. “What in the world?”

\----------

Turning around slowly, his sockets widening as he realized there really was someone else here, he took a careful step backwards. “Shit, uh… thought I was alone?” He tried, eyelights flicking to his small room behind the podium. He might be able to make it before she got to him, but then he wouldn’t have a way out. “Guessing fox face ain’t told ya yet then?” He tried for friendly, carefully easing another step back away from her. She was cute, but scared didn’t suit her and it looked like she had some gear with her. He eyed the broom with distaste having been on the relieving end too many times to trust the things.

\----------

Her eyes shifted to her broom and back at the bitty skeleton. What should she do? Also did it just speak? She started to panic a little bit, though she noticed that it seemed to be as cautious of her as her of it. Her hand tensed on it’s own accord, almost calling out for her to grab the broom and swing it at the thing, but yet she held back. She carefully crouched down, not making a move for the broom or the bucket but still able to reach either of them at a moment. “By fox face...you mean Kitsu?”

\----------

Taking another several steps back at seeing her eyes flicker to the broom and then at her crouching, he paused. “Yeah?” He was ready to take off in a moment, but if he could talk his way out of it, he would. His foot caught on a piece of the porcelain, tripping him up and knocking him to the floor. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he shoved the piece away. Compared to him it was large, but it wasn’t really all that big. Still he kept an eye on the woman. He was not getting broomed again.

\----------

“Kitsu said something about a visitor. Nothing about who or what it was.” She slid the hand on the broom side, to just behind her hip. She was keeping her guard up, still unsure of its intentions. “So tell me, what are you planning on doing to the master’s mask, little skeleton?”

\----------

Red’s gaze instantly locked on her arm, his entire body freezing before acting on its own. “Oh hell no!” He turned and fled as fast as he could around the corner. He was not getting the fucking broom again if he had to teleport to avoid it. “I wa’n’t gonna do jack shit to ‘et!” He shouted over his shoulder, hoping that was good enough for the woman.

\----------

She blinked at the outburst and the sudden dash away of the skeleton. “Wait a minute.” Was all she coil let out before the thing was out of sight. She stared for a moment, contemplating on what to do. Should she pursue or should she not worry about it for the moment, she was here to clean like usual. Her mind sped through all of the possibilities, and eventually eased her stance. She would stay on guard, but right now, getting the mask together would be her main objective. With that, she reached into the bucket, and pulled out a pair of gloves and slipped them on.

Shifting forward towards the podium, she looked to where the skeleton had been and the puzzled together remnants of the mask. She glanced over her shoulders once more to see if the skeleton had reappeared, not to her knowledge. Her gloved hands picked up the largest intact piece of the mask, and inspected it. “A mask like this would have taken a decent amount of force to shatter like this, but if it had already broken, the integrity would have been compromised. Grandpa will be interested to see this.” With that final murmur, she grabbed a leather bag from her waist and started to carefully place the pieces into it.

\----------

When Red realized she wasn’t shouting and chasing him like had happened in the past he stopped and looked behind him confused. Had she not been reaching for the broom? Placing a hand to chest under his jacket to try to calm his pounding Soul, he grimaced as it connected with wet cloth. He’d bled through the bandages again. “Crap.” He muttered. Looking around the hall, he tried to remember which door his nest was supposed to be located behind. Maybe they hadn’t moved it yet. If they had, it would be a waste of magic to look for it, magic he couldn’t afford to waste. 

Steeling his nerves and looking back at the mouth of the hallway, he stuck near the wall and made his way back towards the foyer. When he reached the corner, he peeked his head around and watched as the woman picked up the bits of material to put in the small bag she had procured. So much for his distraction, but she was plenty enough of one for now. Looking around the space between him and the podium and him and the girl, he shook his head. There was no way he’d make it to his room without her seeing him. He decided to chance trying to talk again.

“Uh, you ain’ gonna beat me, are ya? I wanna get to mah room. Fo- uh, Kitsu made me a spot be’ind his desk thingy.” He called out, staying mostly behind the corner, only peeking his head around the corner. He didn’t want to, but at this point he really needed new bandages. He figured he could shred his sheets for now since Kitsu hadn’t let him back to his nest before collapsing.

\----------

She stopped cold at her task, hearing the skeleton’s voice call out again. She closed her eyes and breathed out steadily, keeping her nerves calm. “Only if you try to cause me harm, otherwise no. And what was that about Kitsu?” She kept herself crouched and at the ready, slowly putting down the leather bad with the mask fragments in it.

\----------

“He made me a spot ba’ind his desk?” Red offered, slowly eased out from behind the wall, slowly and carefully walked back towards her and the podium, pausing on his way to pick up a piece of the porcelain that had gone further than the rest and bring it to her. He grimaced slightly when he realized the folly of the action as he stained it red from his bloody hand.

\----------

She could hear him clearer now, he was obviously approaching her. With one more focused breath, she slowly turned in the direction of the voice. There in front of her was the small skeleton, and he was offering up another piece of the mask. She kept her eyes on the bitty, and extended a gloved hand outward towards him, waiting to receive the piece of the mask. “Kitsu made a spot for you?”

\----------

He flinched away as she reached for him until he realized it was only for the mask piece. “Yeah, don’ really get why, but ‘e did.” Red shrugged and flinched minutely as it shifted his ribs. “Swear ya ain’ gonna hit me?” He’d be Dust if she did, but he was too close to really get away now. He gently placed the piece of glass in her large hand. This was the closest he’d ever really been to actually touching a human he wasn’t trying to kill. It was weird.

\----------

She kept watching him as he placed the piece in her hand, noticing he was being just as cautious of her as she was of him. She glanced over the piece, and nodded, demeanor easing. He did not seem to be a threat, and apparently Kitsu was doing something for him. She would have to ask later, but for now she would try to find out more at this point.

Reaching behind her, she lifted the leather bag and moved it infront of her, between them. She slid the piece into the bag and looked back to the skeleton. “Before I ask about what is going on, what should I call you?” Her voice was taking on more of a pleasant tone at this point, and she did not want to scare the thing.

\----------

When she reached behind her, he quickly took a few steps back, his guard raising again. He relaxed minimally when he realized it was only a bag for a piece he’d given her. “Name’s Red, an’ yours? His eyelights flickered from her hands, to her eyes, and back again, trying to judge what her next move would be. She still hadn’t said if he’d be allowed near the cabinet. He could feel the dampness of his shirt starting to brush his pelvis and it wasn’t comfortable or comforting that he was losing that much marrow.

\----------

“Well then, Red. My name is Rumi. I work here in The Den, and I also give it a deep clean every week. I have to say, Kitsu never told me about one like you being in The Den.” She closed up the bag with the drawstring. “You say Kitsu made a spot for you behind his desk, you mean the podium?” She nodded her head in the direction of it.

\----------

“The cabinet in da wall, yeah. An I ain’ been ‘ere long. On’y a few days.” He stumbled where he stood, a low growl escaping him as he fought his weakening body. He needed to get this tied off. He didn’t even know which ribs were loose and bleeding him out at the moment. “Please doll face, let me by.” He tried for flattery.

\----------

She looked over to the wall and noticed a slightly ajar cabinet door on the bottom of the wall. She reached over and opened it and uncovered Red’s room. She looked at it in surprise, and back to Red. “Looks like something Kitsu would make. If he made it for you, then who am I to stop you. Though, you look like you are injured, Red. Can I help at all?” Her voice was sincere, with some concern in it. Sure she may have been completely surprised and scared of him, but if Kitsu took the time to do something like this, she guessed there would be no problems for the time being.

\----------

Debating with himself, Red decided that he was in no shape and really didn’t want to shred his current sheets. Running a dark red tongue over his teeth in an attempt to clear the gumming he felt in his bones, he asked, “You wouldn’t mind checkin’ one a da rooms fer a nest a shredded ‘terial, would ya? I need ta get dis bound.” Another wave of dizziness hit him and this time he couldn’t catch himself and fell to his tailbone, cursing colorfully and slurring at the same time. “Dis ain’ good.” He muttered to himself.

\----------

“Bound? Red...are you. Oh no.” She saw the little guy fall down disoriented. “Stay still, Red. Let me get you into your room.” With that, she leaned forward to scoop the bitty up. He needed to get into his room so he could be comfortable. “What do you need to be bound, Red?” She asked as he was put onto his bed.

\----------

As he was grabbed and moved, he growled and snapped at the hands holding him, claws striking at fingers. Only the thick gloves protected her skin from him in his delirium. Once he was placed on his bed though and no longer being held, he regained his senses a little, blinking and trying to focus on his surroundings. “What the fuck? Nevermind. Sparing a glance for the woman, he shrugged off his jacket carefully and fought to get his now soaked t-shirt off of his frame. Tossing it to the side, it landed with a sickening slop on the floor, he began unraveling the wraps around his ribs, starting with the ones that seemed the wettest and warmest as those were likely the source of the mess. 

Sure enough, once the material was completely removed, he felt his magic lurch as he saw the marrow almost pouring from a clean split in the bone. “Dammit.” He quickly grabbed his pillow and ripped the case off, shredding it and pressed it to the wound, wadding it a bit before wrapping it around the bone liberally and tying it off. He could hardly see straight, but continued doing the process for all the ribs that had wraps on them, a total of seven of them. By the time he was done, his sheets had been shredded as well. Once that was done, he glared at his legs, as if daring them to not be completely healed after all he’d been using them for the day. The thought of reaching down to them was too much though and he folded over onto his side. “Feel like shit.” He grumbled. 

Around the bed there was now a pile of bloody scraps next to his shirt, which had begun spreading a puddle that dried almost as fast as it spread. Unlike human blood, when it dried, it turned into bright red dust that quickly faded to grey. The same was happening to the bandages.

\----------

Rumi watched his frantic actions of bandaging up his bones and everything turning to dust on the floor. It was interesting to watch, but also a bit disturbing to a degree. Red was in pretty bad shape, and she could not help but ask again about helping him. She had a hunch that he would say no, but no harm in trying. “Need anything to help with that, Red?”

\----------

“Not unless ya got healing magic.” His sockets were sliding shut. He knew he couldn’t sleep right now though, that would be dangerous. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself up and stepped around the shirt and shreds, he retrieved a bit of food and forced himself to eat. At least he could try to replenish his magic. It would help some with the healing at least. After a few bites, he glanced at her from where she sat, still watching him. “Thanks fer da help.” He was silent as he ripped another bite from his food and debated on asking his next question. “Any word about him yet?” He nodded towards the podium.

\----------

“Kitsu is awake, just very weak and in a bit of a daze. No idea what happened to him to cause his condition. That is all I know. I have no “healing magic” but I can tell you need a bit of rest. Mind watching this for me?” She placed the leather bag with the mask pieces inside of his cabinet. “Still have to work on cleaning up The Den. If you need something I am around. Rest yourself, Red.” With that she started to lift herself off of the floor.

\----------

Snorting at the way she downplayed the magic he referenced, he sighed. “Yeah, sure. ‘Bout all I’m good for right now.” Red muttered and continued eating. It was slow, but he could feel his strength returning. It was amazing what food could do for a monster. He was so tired of resting, but she was right on that. He needed it if he was ever going to be back in the shape he needed to be. He left the panel open so that he could watch her move around. At least it was better than staring at a wall, prettier too, for all that she was human.

\----------

After getting back up, she took one more glance over the area for any remaining porcelain. With a smile and a nod of approval. She picked up her broom and started to sweep up the entirety of the Gateway, starting from the curtain and working back to the hallway entrance. She took her time and broomed wherever she had gotten up into a neat pile. Retrieving a pan and brush, she slid the debris into the pan, and dumped it into a small garbage bag. After that, she proceeded down the hall and started the process over throughout the buildings. It was not an easy task, but it was one she enjoyed doing.

\----------

Once the girl was out of Red’s sight, he groaned. Now what was he supposed to do to distract himself. He couldn’t fiddle with his magic seeing as it was so low and that had been the last bit of food he had stored from the meal earlier. He didn’t feel like sleeping for once, but it really seemed to be the only thing he could do. He could walk around, but he had to keep an eye on this bag, as if it would get up and walk off on its own. He wondered if it would. He’d seen stuff like that before in the underground. Maybe humans had it too. Keeping an eye on the bag seemed to be all he could really do for now, so kicking his feet up on the table, he tried to settle in to watch it. 

It wasn’t five minutes before he was bored. Pushing himself up, he walked over to where his shirt and the now dried scraps of his bandages sat. He picked up the shirt and shook it roughly, knocking Dust loose and beating it a few times, careful not to strain himself. Once he was satisfied, he slipped it back on. The itchy, scratchy feel of the Dust that remained inside would fade, he was used to it. With the shirt on, he repeated the process with his jacket and checked on the bag again. It still hadn’t made a break for it. Maybe it was a smart bag… or maybe it was pitying him. That pissed him off. He didn’t need anybody’s or anything’s pity.

“You better not be patronizing me, you damn leather sack.” He snarled at it, poking the soft material as if that would make a difference in it’s lack of movement.

\----------

Rumi was not sure if time was going fast or slow, but she did know that The Den was nice and cleaned up. Closing the last of the rooms, she walked back to the dressing room and flopped down on a comfy chair. She pulled off her glasses and wiped them with a cloth, letting out a contented sigh. “Well, I think that does that. Place was not in too bad of shape, thankfully.” With that thought out of the way, she leaned back and pulled out her phone, shooting out a quick text message to Karin. She looked about the place, and awaited a reply.

Meanwhile at the hospital…

Kitsu was still a bit out of it and dozing off a bit, so no one really pushed for any major talk. Ayano sat with her phone in the corner. Angela was reading one of her books, and Karin stood and looked out the window. Everyone was trying to keep busy while waiting for the doctor to come back with some test results. Very little chatter was had, just so Kitsu could rest more in peace.

Karin’s phone went off with a small jingle. She unlocked it and read the message from Rumi, and let out a small chuckle. This attracted the attention of the other two females. She looked over with a half hearted smile. “Rumi found Red, apparently she was never told about him. Gave her a good jump.” The girls chuckled. “That’s right she had been away since before Red showed up hasn’t she?” Angela inquired.

“Yeah, I guess Kitsu did not inform her since she was not around. I bet the look on her face would be priceless.” Ayano quipped.

“Well let’s hope Red did not end up on the receiving end of a strike from her.” Angela added.

“Stri..ke from...who?” Kitsu stuttered out coming back into consciousness.

“Easy Kitsu...Rumi cleaned The Den and found Red. Everything is ok.” Angela comforted him as she held his hand once again. “Tell her...I say...hey....”

Karin nodded and typed out a response to Rumi. “Done, she also said she will take the mask to her grandfather. Kitsu nodded and stared at the ceiling. His mind was going a mile a minute over everything, still trying to figure out what happened. He had been so tired over the course of the last day or two. That was not like him, not at all. “Has there...been any...word yet?”

As the girls were about to answer, another voice piped up, a male one. “Hello everyone, we have the results back. Is he conscious?”

“I’m up…” Was what he could muster.

The doctor moved in and sat next to the bed, everyone looking at him for an answer, as he opened a file folder and flipped through the pages.

Back at The Den…

Rumi could feel the slight mocking coming from the message, but she was relieved to hear Kitsu was awake. “Those three...wait until I see them…”

\----------

Red had moved from his dining table to his bed to lay down. “Ya know, you are the most boring bag to watch over. Ya ain’t even acted up once, ‘aven’t made any sounds, nothin’. Yer not an illusion...” He trailed off as he stared at the bits of wood shavings or ripped cloth that lay around the bag. He’d pelted it occasionally just to make sure it really was still there. “Gah, dis is so boring! When’s dat freaky maid chick commin’ back? “Ope she got news on Fox-face.”

\----------

With her work done, Rumi went over her things, making sure she had everything together before she headed out. Considering the fact that she was going to be heading to her grandfather’s, she decided to leave her cleaning supplies here, she also decided to forgo changing, and still wear her maid outfit. Only carrying her duffle bag, she left the changing room and headed back to the Gateway to retrieve the leather bag with the mask shards in it.

\----------

Feeling the vibrations in the walls from the woman walking around towards the foyer, he pushed himself back up to his feet and pulled open his wall again. He was careful to keep the bag in his sight. It would be just his fucking luck for it to pull a fast one at the last minute when she distracted him.

“Done with the cleanin’?” He asked, trying to be conversational. He’d been thinking and figured that if he wanted to get what he wanted, he probably should try to be friendlier. These people didn’t take to abrasiveness all that well. It was infuriating. “Da bag ain’ moved, not even a friggin’ twitch. I dunno how ya trained it, but it is damn well behaved.” He glared at it, like it was bad for not running off.

\----------

Turning the corner into the Gateway, she glanced about for anything and possibly missed. Nothing she could see. With a nod she moved and knelt by Red’s room. She cocked an eyebrow at the comment about the bag. “Um...of course the bag wouldn't move. It’s a bag.” She said with a chuckle. “I am just using it to transport the pieces of Kitsu’s mask. But yes, I did get the cleaning done. Right now I am getting ready to head out and take the mask shards to someone.” With that she reached towards the bag in front of Red.

\----------

“Wait! You mean the fucker wasn’t…?” The question died in his throat with a growl. He really wanted to hit something now and felt like a complete fool. “You hear anything on… Kitsu?” It was still weird saying his name, but she didn’t seem to like the other name Red had given him temporarily. “Are they communicating with you at all?” He stood in front of the bag to try and limit her ability to grab it without answering, not that there was much he could do if she really didn’t want to answer him. She was much too big and strong and he was still injured.

\----------

“Kitsu is dazed and out of it, but he is conscious for the most part. Has been talking to the girls off and on. They were still waiting for the doctor to come back with some test results.” She gave a sigh. “Once we know what is going on with him, the sooner we can work on what is going on with operations around here.” She said with kind of a glance around the room. Her hand latched onto the bag and lifted it up and out of Red’s space. She gave it one or two small tosses in her hand before setting down her duffle bag and opening it up, preparing to place the leather bag inside.

\----------

“WAIT!” He blushed at how desperate he sounded. “Uh, will you be going to see him?” His eyelights shifted from her, to the floor, and then back where they held her’s steadily as he tried to hold his ground. 

He needed to see Kitsu, see with his own eyelights that he was okay. Killing someone in cold blood or in battle was one thing, but an accidental lingering wound? That was sloppy and he honestly didn’t want to be responsible for it. He needed to know the man was okay before he’d rest eazy. This was all his fault anyway.

\----------

“Not right now, the hospital has a limit to how many visitors at a time. Right now three of the girls are there. I may go later, but for the moment, I need to get the mask to my grandfather.” With that she dropped the leather bag into the duffle and closed it up. He is the one who actually forged the masks we use. So when one breaks, he creates a new one, though not from the pieces.”

\----------

“An’ after?” He sounded hopeless and knew it. He hated it, but he couldn’t figure out how to find the man. This woman might be his only chance. “Any chance ya’d be see’n ‘im after? Ah wanna...no I gotta see ‘im.” He shook his head as he defined the difference. “Dis is all mah fault, ah gotta make t’sure he’s aight.” He looked up at the woman. It was hard to look tough while practically begging for help. He tried not to think about the fact that he was probably failing.

\----------

Rumi stared for a moment or two at Red. Did he just beg her to take him to see Kitsu? She was definitely going to have to be read in on all of this later, but for now it was her call. She needed to go see her grandfather, and she would try to visit Kitsu later. She thought, and gave a sigh. “Though I am still trying to determine how I feel with all of this, I guess I can bring you along. But do not get into trouble or anything. I am not going to be responsible for anything you do. Got it?” Her voice had some strength in it, strange to hear from a woman in a maid outfit, but she was also being sincere and polite. She slid the duffle bag over by Red’s room, and opened it up. “Climb in if you are ready.”

\----------

He couldn't help looking at it apprehensive, seeing everything he could get caught on or squished between, but at least she agreed to help him. Grabbing his jacket, he left his room quickly, finding a few softer items in the bag to settle himself between. “Thanks missy. Really ‘preciate it.” He offered, trying to get comfortable. “I’ll try to stay outta trouble fer ya.” Not that he was making any promises.

\----------

“I hope so, the last thing anyone needs is unwanted attention.” With that, she lifted up the duffle bag, leaving it partially unzipped so Red could peek out. Passing through the Gateway’s curtain, Rumi and her carry along left The Den for the time being.

\----------

It was weird being carried like this and the ride was far from smooth, but Red did his best to stay out of sight while keeping everything that passed within his sight. They moved a lot faster than he would have been able to on his own and in less than a minute were out of the bar. He remembered getting in had taken him almost an hour. Maybe being carried had perks. The downside was the nausea he was quickly getting from the slight back and forth swing the bag had and he had to seal his teeth shut to avoid puking magic several times. He didn’t make it far before he passed out from restraining his magic.

\----------

Rumi moved through the streets casually, not worrying about the look people were giving her, whether they were inappropriate or surprised. She felt confident in her maid outfit, and wore it proudly. As she went, she checked on Red, who at some point seemed to have passed out. She let out a small chuckle and continued to her destination, a small house on the outskirts of the town. Sounds of roaring fires, the clanking of tools against materials, and the cries of what sounded like people fighting were all emitted from the building. Opening a gate, Rumi followed the path behind the house, and called out as she turned the corner. “Grandpa!”

With that call out, an older gentleman stepped out from behind a large box. He sported a tank top, loose pants, and a headband. He raised a hand and beckoned her over. She excitedly moved to meet up with her grandfather, and bowed as she reached him. A gentle, yet well worn hand patted her on the head, and he smiled. “Rumi-chan, what are you doing back here in your maid outfit? I would hate to see it ruined being around the kiln and such.”

“I just came from cleaning The Den. With me being away to see my mother, I did not get to do the cleaning until today.”

The pair engaged in simple chatter about her trip, before bringing her reason for being here to the forefront. “I am sure you heard about the incident at The Den? Well, Kitsu is in the hospital after passing out.” She placed her duffle bag on the ground, and opened it up enough that she could extract the leather bag. “He apparently repelled a problem customer, but passed out after it all happened.” She held out the bag to the older man. “His fox mask was shattered. I wanted to bring you the pieces so you can send them off, and request a new mask be forged if you can do it?” His face went somber at the news, but he accepted the bag and weighed it in his hand. “Come, Rumi. Let’s see what we have here.” With that he motioned her to follow him, which after picking up the duffle bag, she followed behind him, ready to see what he was going to do.

\----------

The wash of air as the bag was set on the floor, along with the added light, sound, and lack of movement roused Red quickly. Clapping hands over his mouth as the bag was lifted again, he stumbled, unable to get a proper footing in the bag. As fast as he could manage in the rough conditions, he got to the edge of it, away from the girl, and hauled himself up to puke straight magic outside of it. He was never riding in a bag again. This was hell. 

After puking, the air on his face felt good and he could feel his queasiness fading, though it remained in the background. The old man they were following had some slight similarities to Rumi, he figured they might be related and the way they talked suggested they definitely were familiar with each other. He’d stay quiet and observe for now, since he didn’t think he’d been noticed.

\----------

The older man led her to a well used, yet well kept work table. Undoing the leather tie of the bag, he slowly and carefully poured it’s contents onto the surface of the table. The pieces fell out with small clinks against each other as they fell, and he spread them out and looked them over, lifting a piece or two to his gaze. “Whatever your fox friend did, he had some force behind it. This was a sturdy mask I forged.”

Rumi set her duffle bag on a nearby shelf, and leaned on the side of the table with a shrug. “I am really not aware of what happened. I heard that Kitsu had passed out and his mask was shattered.”

Her grandfather slid the pieces around making connections, like he was assembling a jigsaw puzzle. The marks on the mask made it easy to assemble the main center part of it. He leaned in and stared for a moment. “Even like this...I can tell he hit it off of something.” Looking at the mask, there was a small span of missing shards around the forehead, even with the mask in pieces, it could be noted if you knew where to look.

“Maybe the floor when he fell?”

“Only if he fell face first. Hmm. Whatever happened, the mask's integrity was definitely compromised.” He looked over the form again and nodded. “It will take a little while to find this mold. I know I have it around here.” He glanced around inquisitively as he thought of where it could be. 

\----------

Red fell backward when the bag was put up but pulled himself back up with a huff and looked over to watch the reassembly and debate. It didn’t cross his mind to keep quiet. He had gotten too used to being around Kitsu in the past few days and being able to talk pretty much whenever. “Smacked it off da brute asswipe dat tried ta use da girls fer sluts. Dat’s da area ‘e butted ‘im wit. Prob’ly wha’ started da break, if anythin’.” Red shrugged before losing his footing and slipping to the bottom of the bag with a heavy “umph.” followed by colorful swearing as his ribs were jarred. He started the rough climb back up to the top, muttering spiteful things in deep, quiet, unintelligible growls. He was starting to get hungry too, couldn’t smell any food in the bag though.

\----------

The sudden interjection from the skeleton made both of the humans stop and turn towards the bag. “My word...what is that, Rumi?” The older man inquired about the sudden outburst from her bag. 

Rumi’s face was bright red, though not sure if from anger or embarrassment. “Um...ya see…she shuffled a little bit trying to find the words. “It’s a talking doll I got while I was away! I thought it was a cute looking skeleton, and just had to have it.” She nodded trying to confirm her lie. 

“No Rumi. You know I have an eye for details, and that was too...well..much of a convenience of an outburst.” With a sigh, he spoke up loud and clear with a sly smirk on his face, “Who or whatever is in the bag, come out, or I throw the bag into the fire pit.”

\----------

The moment Rumi called him a doll, Red nearly shrieked but the threat of the fire was much too real. “Don’t you fuckin’ dare! Not mah fault der’s so many damn clothes in dis thing. If it weren’t ‘er’s, I’d jus’ cut my way out. An you! Maid lady! I ain’t no motherfuckin’ doll! I’m a fuckin monster! Geddit damn straight! He finally got a grip on the edge of the zipper edge and cursing up a storm while bracing his sneakers against the fabric, he managed to pull himself up again, ripping open his wounds yet again. “Well fuck me. I’m blamin you fer dis shit dis time.” He glared at her as he pulled a hand off of his chest, the bones covered in dark red. “M gettin’ tired a bleedin’ all da time.” He was now sitting on top of the bag, looking for a way down.

The bag sat on a broad wooden shelf, but there still wasn’t much room around the corner he was on. Keeping to one of the plastic lined corners so that he’d have some drag and less chance to rip it, he slid down and nearly missed the edge of the shelf entirely, swearing again and pulling himself up, leaving a dark mark on the wood where he’d been pressed flush against it. “Happy ya old geiser?” He glared as he wiped the bloody bones on his shorts to clean them. When the blood turned to Dust, it wasn’t comfortable.

\----------

The old man smiled and glanced at Rumi. “A doll, eh?” He shuffled past a now sulking Rumi and moved closer to inspect the bitty skeleton. “Well, aren’t you a foul mouthed creature. That’s alright though. The important thing is that apparently you know what happened to this mask here?” He said motioning to the broken shards, the whole while gently smiling.

\----------

Glaring before snorting, Red sat down. “Yeah, I know what happened. How much it worth to ya?” If he could get a meal for information, he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity, especially since it would stop his bleeding. He folded his arms, holding his jacket closed over his chest so he didn’t get more of his marrow on his hands. At least at this height he could hold the man’s stare.

\----------

“Well, it would be helpful to know why the mask became like this. But I do not know what a creature like you would want?” He kind of huffed a little bit. “We always could wait for the fox-boy to come around when he recovers, to hear about what happened. How is he anyway, Rumi?” He turned to look at her for a moment. 

“Last I heard he was conscious and very out of it. Um, let me check my phone for a moment.” With that, Rumi pulled out her phone, finding a message from Karin. She read over it and her eyes went wide for a moment before sighing. 

“Well, what did the message say, Rumi-chan?”

\----------

“All I need is food. Helps me heal and I need that right now. Gimme something to eat and I’ll tell ya everything I know. Not like I eat much compared to you freaks.” He smirked but at the mention of Kitsu, he looked to Rumi, worried. The silence stretched on but the look on her face was far from reassuring. “Fox-face better be fuckin’ okay. He can’t die from somethin’ like this! Tell me ah didn’t kill the idiot.” His voice was low, mostly talking to himself in panicked terror and hope.

\----------

Back at the hospital…

The ladies waited with baited breath to hear what the doctor had to say. Kitsu turned his head to look at him. Weakly he spoke up, “So...what happened?”

The doctor looked at Kitsu and back at his paperwork. “Tests show that you have high amounts of an antibiotic in your system. I checked in with the clinic you visited and they said you had a hand injury that was infected, so they prescribed you medication to take care of it. From what the results show, you seemed to have overdosed yourself to a degree. Do you have a history of drug abuse?”

“Never in his life!” Karin spoke up frantically. “Kitsu is no drug addict!”

“Miss, calm down now. This is a hospital and some patients are trying to rest. Also, the question was to Kitsu, not you.” He retorted sternly.

She mumbled in defeat, as she sunk into her seat. Kitsu weakly looked over at her and back to the doctor. “No, I have...never. I hardly...use them unless...needed. I took the designated...dosage...no more than that.” Kitsu nodded weakly.

“I see. Do you have the meds with you?” Kitsu nodded, “Top drawer with my wallet.”

“I got it doctor.” Ayano chimed in. Setting her phone down, she opened the bedside table drawer and pulled out a medicine bottle. She handed it over to the doctor, who examined the label. He looked at it, at his notes, and back to the bottle. The group noticed a puzzled look on his face. “Hey doctor, is something wrong?” Angela inquired.

“Hmm...I need to check on something. Give me a few minutes, I will be right back.” With that, the doctor stood up and left the room. 

They stood there puzzled. “What happened just now? First he accuses Kitsu of having a drug issue, and then he just up and leaves?” Karin stomped his foot in frustration. “All we want is answers, damn it!” She started to tear up. Angela grabbed a tissue and wiped Karin’s eyes. “I am sure he has a reason. Just come on stay strong here.

“Thank you...ladies...for defending me…” Kitsu spoke up weakly, giving a slight thumbs up. “Let’s all...wait for the...doctor to return.” That statement would be nullified a minute or two later, as the doctor came back in, his expression sullen, but also a bit on the frustrated side. He took his seat again, still holding the bottle of medicine. “Kitsu, what is the dosage you were given.?”

“Three pills every 8 hours.” 

“I see...well I think we found the reason for the overdose. The label on the bottle reads as you have said. However, after checking some pharmaceutical information, and the clinic medical report for the severity of the infection. You should have only taken two every 8 hours. Within 24 hours, you would have ingested one-and-a-half additional doses. For some reason, the label was printed incorrectly or the prescription was written incorrectly. I have the nurses looking into it right now. Exhaustion and tiredness are side effects, but I am not sure why you passed out like you did. Maybe has something to do with the bruise on your forehead?

“I had...a client...being unruly...he got in...my face and...I headbutted him with...with my mask.”

“Seems like the self-inflicted blunt force, plus the adrenaline rush of the moment amplified the side effect of the medication, and knocked you out.”

\----------

When Rumi read off what had happened, Red sat in disbelief. “Yer tellin me dat fox-face knocked ‘imself up on drugs and made me... “ He shut up as he realized what he’d almost admitted. “THAT MOTHERFUCKER! Red snarled before turning on Rumi’s bag and releasing a series of punches that, against someone his own size, would have been devastating. Unfortunately it only made his chest worse, but he was pissed. He’d been worried about that bastard and he was down over something so menial! Here Red had thought it was his own fault. “‘An ‘ere I thought my curse ‘ad gone too damn far. Damn fucker!” His eye was blazing, but he resisted summoning anything. He couldn’t waste what little magic he had, much as he wanted to break something.

\----------

Rumi’s grandfather nodded. “At least they know what happened. Why was he taking the medication in the first place?”

“Something about a hand injury that was infected.” With that she slipped the phone back into her pocket. And looked at the pair. “He will be in for another day or two, until they can flush his system.”

“Good good.” The old man smiled and nodded again, as he turned to Red. “I believe you said you wanted food, yes? I think I have something small I can give you in exchange for what happened.”

\----------

Stopping the instant he heard food, Red turned and looked at the old man. “Seriously? Man, dat never works. C’n ah get a lift to da table at least? Ah don’t feel like fallin’ when I’m so close to bein’ finished ‘ealin’. Ah’ll tell ya everythin’, swear.” His anger was completely forgotten with the idea he might get more food. This was working in his favor. If he’d stayed at the Den, he wouldn’t have gotten any.

\----------

“I will be right back. When I return we can discuss the mask.” With that the older man moved into the nearby doorway and slipped into the building. Rumi looked to the mask pieces and then to Red. Moving over to him, she grabbed some small boxes and made a small descending staircase for Red. “There you go, should help you get onto the table safely.”

\----------

Watching the small display of her building project, he tested it before snorting and beginning the climb down. “Thanks. Guess it’ll work.” He was careful as he felt the cardboard dip beneath his weight and he took each step with care, not wanting to go through the material. He’d done it before in the past. Once he made it to the table, he relaxed a bit, no longer having to worry about falling from a shelf or through a stairway of cardboard. Walking over to the mask, he looked at the star patterned area that was missing in the forehead and growled. Just the thought of the scum that caused this had his magic burning. The light in his left socket flared, the magic flickering in his socket and around his skull in an imitation of fire while his left disappeared entirely. The whole situation had him annoyed. 

\----------

Rumi noticed his body posture, he seemed either upset or mad. Why was the question. He was getting food, and got down to the table without problem. Standing there her hands clasped together in front of her, she asked calmly. “You seem a bit agitated, Red?”

\----------

“Hmmm? Just the whole situation. Fox-face drugged up cause I cursed him, busted this ‘cause a dumn asshat, and there still ain’t nothin’ ah can fuckin’ do. Time was I could pull my own damn weight when I had to, now my weight ain’t worth fucking shit!” He kicked the side of the mask, causing the pieces that had been dry-fitted together to shift and fall from their alignment.

\----------

She was a bit confused at the words he used. “What do you mean ‘cursed’ him? Once grandpa comes back I am sure he would want to know, I know I do.” Seeing Red scatter the mask, she panicked and started to reassemble the pieces. As she was adjusting them, Rumi’s grandfather walked back outside holding some sticks of some kind of dried meat. “Here, I hope this will help you somewhat.” He extended the food to Red, as he watched Rumi adjusting the mask shards, a sigh leaving his mouth. “It’s fine Rumi, no need to readjust the pieces.”

Rumio stepped away from the table and nodded, “Yes, Grandpa.”

He smiled at her and turned back to Red. “So, what can you tell us about what happened?”

\----------

Red accepted the meat and wasted no time in using his claws and sharp teeth to shred the meat in pieces small enough for him to manage before he explained roughly what he could from the position he’d been in, having to stop multiple times to explain something that happened previously before finally snapping, swearing excessively, and just going from the beginning and telling of everything that had happened since he’d shown up. That should have answered the grandfather’s questions and most of the girl’s. She still wanted to know about the curse though and he’d omitted the details of it.

Stuffing his face finally, he easily took down two whole pieces, glaring at them as if he expected them to demand more information before he got to eat something. His magic broke down the food almost instantly and the replacement was helping.

Having eaten a fair bit, he launched into explaining the specifics of the curse, not that it had been complicated to begin with. “So, with the curse I put on Foxy, it is real simple. I wasn’t exactly thinkin’ how far I’d wan’ it ta go. All I was thinkin’ ‘bout was that I din’ wanna be grabbed by some bigass hand that could turn me ta Dust easier than pie. Used a bit a my magic on the bite to make sure ‘e felt it and that it wouldn’t heal. ‘E’d remember me, or at least to not go reachin’ fer thin’s that ‘e don’t know nothin’ ‘bout. Funny ding ‘bout magic dough is, when i’s cast like that, it c’n do thin’s that it ain’ suppose ta. Ta kill him accidentally would be sloppy and da idjits started to grow on me. I don’ wanna kill ‘im. ‘Sides, Karin would def’nately kill me, she ever foun’ out.”

\----------

Both Rumi and her grandfather just listened to Red’s ‘colorful’ description of everything that went down. Their ears hung on almost every word he said. It was a very interesting tale, the last part though about the curse was something you would hear in a story or legend, but yet this was reality. Once all was said and done, the humans looked at the mask and the older man reconfirmed what he had just been told. “So, a customer who was an issue for the ladies in the past was back, and being downright rude. After arguing, Kitsu headbutted him with the mask, with enough force to actually compromise its integrity. Then he passed out, and the mask shattered from the fall.” He looked to the mask pieces and leaned in to look at the impact spot.

Rumi on the other hand looked very perplexed. The first part she understood, but the whole curse thing...yeah that made her head spin from the comprehension of the reality of the situation. First a small, talking skeleton...and now that he can and has cursed people. She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes with a loud sigh. “This just went from strange to surreal…”

\----------

“That’s right.” Red agreed with the older man while chewing another strand of the jerky, careful to not dislodge his gold tooth. “An’ what’s so strange ‘bout everything. I didn’t lie if that’s what yer insinuatin’. He balked at the sheer idea that he’d lie about this stuff.

\----------

“I do not think you are lying, Red. I am just not one who goes into mystical stuff like that. Someone like Angela would revel in all of what you are saying. Myself however, is just a bit more rooted in what I know. Curses and monsters are not something I generally deal with, or think on. Kinda the reason you spooked me back at The Den.” Rumi stammered out, sincerity in her voice.

\----------

He hummed as we worked on a thicker strand of jerky. He hadn’t been able to tear this bit apart without it literally turning into strings, so had just taken it all at once, now he couldn’t speak. It was a few minutes before he responded. “Yeah, well we did jus’ bust outta da prison ya all locked us in for several ‘undred years. Not too surprised ya fergot ‘bout all a us. Kinda rude, but wha’s a monster ta do. ‘Sides, you” He air quoted, “‘spooked’ me too. Swore ya were gonna broom me. I gotten da swat too many times an in my condition, heh, dats a fuckin Dust scentence.”

\----------

Rumi’s grandfather looked at the floor for a moment, in a state of thought. “A prison, locked in for hundreds of years...hmm.” Sounds like an old legend I heard about a while ago. Let me see…” While he thought about what he had heard, Rumi chimed back in. 

“The thought did cross my mind to swat for you, but you seemed to not be any threat at that point. Though if you did come at me...well I am sure my skills would have made short work of you.” The woman dressed as a cute maid smiled with confidence.

\----------

“Skills?” Now that sounded like a post-implied threat. “Wha’s dat supposed ta mean?” He bared his teeth at her, trying to look intimidating. He wasn’t really paying the old man any attention anymore. This girl seemed to be saying she was actually, possibly more of a threat than normal, everyday humans, which were dangerous on their own without even trying.

\----------

She noted his toothy grin, but she just leaned in, with her own. “Do not let the frills deceive you, Red. I can be pretty dangerous on my own accord. Let’s just say I have had special training, and not just the kind that involves cleaning floors and shelves.” Her confidence was showing at this point.

\----------

Raising a bone brow, Red looked her up and down. “Dat supposed ta impress me doll? Put up or shud up. Ah would, but ahm low on magic due ta da healin’. Once this is fixed, I c’n start puttin’ ‘way magic, den ah c’n show ya a real fight.” He snorted and leaned back, doubting she was actually any good. She was just an over-confident pretty face was all. Probably never had to fight a day in her life.

\----------

She kept her gaze locked on Red and called out. “Hey grandpa? Do you have any flawed pieces around? I wanna show off a little bit.” The mention of him pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned to face Rumi, a small smile on his face. “There are some in the bin by the kiln. Just clean up when you are done, please. You left a decent mess last time.” With that he went back to his thoughts as well as the mask on the table.

Rumi strode over to the kiln, and picked up a few misshapen pieces of ceramic pottery. Placing them down on some crates in her grandfather’s backyard area, she retrieved a wooden shaft about three-feet long from next to the kiln as well. She moved herself into the center of the crates and looked at the positions of the pots. With a smile, she called out. “Hey Red...don’t blink…”

At that moment, the maid’s posture changed drastically. The way she held the wood shaft was not how a maid would hold a broom, more like how someone would...wield a weapon? With a quick flurry of movement, the sound of pots shattering echoed within the small area. Everything had been broken in less than a few seconds, and she stood there crouched, with the shaft in her hand. Slowly standing, she spun the wooden shaft and clacked it into the ground, both of her hands laying on the other end of it. She huffed and smiled. “Wooo...that was fun!”

\----------

Red had to admit, he was impressed; she was fast. He nodded and clapped his hands, the bones clicking with the slow strikes. “Damn. When ya put up, ya really put up. Glad I ran when I did. You woulda Dusted me fer sure.” 

He sat down on the table, getting tired of standing. A few seconds later a giant ant, one of those wood eating ants, came up from between the slats of the table and began making its way indirectly towards him. Eyeing it warilly, Red pushed himself to his feet again, wishing he could rest for even a few seconds. He tried stepping to a different plank and around the bug, not wanting to deal with it, but it altered course and followed him. Apparently he was on the menu for tonight.

“Damn bitch!” He swore when another he hadn’t noticed jumped him from behind. They might only be a quarter his size, but they hunted in packs and were ridiculously strong. Flipping over and avoiding its mandible, he shoved several bone spikes through the one that had grabbed his legs and taken him down before skewering the one that had rushed his head when he went down. It had almost gotten his skull. “Fuckin’ hate bugs.” He pushed himself back to his feet, checking around himself for others. There were always more. He decided staying on his feet would be his best option and away from the edges of the planks as well. Since the ants continued twitching, he left them impaled for now. He’d had them come after him, even after they should have been long dead, he wasn’t taking chances. He was even more glad he’d gotten food out of the old man now.

\----------

With her display finished, Rumi started to gather up all of the broken pottery pieces. She smiled as that felt really good to do. As she started to place pieces back in the bin, she watched as Red fought off a few ants on the table. ‘I guess for a little guy like him, normal pests that we just pass by are a major threat to him.’ She thought as she watched him dispatch the bugs. 

\----------

While he was looking around, he noticed Rumi’s gaze. He highly doubted that she’d see his feat of defeating these things as something worthwhile. They were even smaller than he was, if anything, she probably thought it was comedic that he struggled with such insignificant creatures. Did humans even realize how many bugs were around at any given time? It was a real pain. “What’re you lookin’ at?” He spat, glaring heavily. She was powerful in her own right, but he didn’t want pity just because he was small.

\----------

Placing the final few shards in the bin and leaning the wooden staff against a support beam. She brushed off her gloves and her dress before walking back to the table where Red and her grandfather were. She was about to address Red, until she was stopped by the sounds of clapping. The older man was smiling and clapping slowly, “Excellent show, Rumi-chan. Your skills are improving. He noted the bugs Red had killed and nodded to him as well. “You definitely know how to handle yourself, Red. Good job on you as well.” 

\----------

Eyelights flicking between the two humans, Red wasn’t sure if he meant it. “Sure. Have ta.” He settled with, still keeping an eye out for any more of the fuckers. They moved fast and where there was one, there were always five more waiting for a chance to strike. The big ones were almost worse than the small ones. Sure, the small ones even he could crush underfoot, but they swarmed until he couldn’t see the ground and they had a nasty bite. At least with the big ones, he’d see them and be able to fight them off.

\----------

“I will have to get some bug spray to handle those pests…” He turned and looked back at the mask. “Rumi-chan?”

She stood there for a moment perplexed. “Yes, Grandpa?” 

“Will you be seeing fox boy tonight?”

“I was thinking about heading to the hospital after I left here. Why do you ask?”

He lifted up the large piece of the mask and examined it. “I want you to take him a message. Tell him I will not forge him a new mask…”

Rumi stood there stunned. “But, grandpa…”

“If he wants a mask forged, he will have to come here and ask me himself. Is that understood? He broke it, he asks for the replacement.”

Rumi’s face became a bit sullen, but she understood. Though she could not help but notice a small smile on his older face. “I will do that. I will let him know.”

“Good, good.” With that, he turned and walked back into the house, coming out a minute later with what appeared to be a small hand crafted box. Placing it on the table, he started to gather up the shards and place them inside of it. Once all of the pieces were inserted, he closed the lid and set it on the table where the mask had been. “Rumi-chan, thank you for bringing this to me. I will take care of it. I think right now you need to go see Kitsu. Let him know my message and I will await his visit, when he is better.”

\----------

Red grit his teeth. He wanted to defend the damn fox, but what right did he have to? “Yer a real piece a work, ya know that geizer.” He snapped, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “E broke dat tryin’ ta save da girls. Coulda been dis one as soon as it were any da others. Yer cutthroat, no won’er ya lasted dis long.” He shook his head before turning away. They were dismissed. That meant he had to get back in the bag, which was at the top of the cardboard climbing steps. Wonderful.

Looking to Rumi, he asked, “Ya gonna make me climb dis or ya gonna bring da bag down fer me?” He wouldn’t put it past them to make him climb, but they had been decent, mostly, so far. She might bring it down for him.

\----------

“Well I need to take it with me anyway, so hold on a moment.” Rumi moved to pick up the duffle bag from the shelf, and moved it to the edge of the desk. “Ok then, hop in.” As they watched Red inspect the distance into the bag, the older man spoke up. “One moment, Red. You said you were locked away. Where were you locked up? I am trying to remember what stories I can recall.”

\----------

Turning from his judgement of distance to look up to the grandfather, he dug in his memory to find the humans’ name for the mountain range. “Uh, the Apps, Elfs...Alps? I don’t know. It was some weird name. Under some big mountains.” He shrugged and bracing his body against the table, launched himself at the bag, landing squarely inside it and on his ribs. “Stars fucking damn it all.” He swore, clutching his chest as he pushed himself back upright. Maybe he would have been better off hauling himself up after all.

\----------

“Hmm, the Alps. I do recall tales of creatures being sealed away some hundreds of years ago, but that was claimed to be a legend of our world. Maybe the legends are truly more fact than fiction. I may have to look into it. For now though, you both be safe in your travels. And give Kitsu my message and well wishes, Rumi-Chan.” With that the old man gave his granddaughter a bow, which she returned before stepping up to him and giving him a warm hug, “We will be safe, see you around grandpa.” With one more bow and a wave, Rumi and her passenger left the area and back out into the streets.

\----------

Red was all around confused with the old man. He had been a bit of a prick about Kitsu breaking the mask, but seemed to genuinely care about his granddaughter and showed open interest in Red’s own past. He was a complete enigma to the small monster. Shaking his head, Red instead dug into the bag, burying himself in Rumi’s clothes and doing his best to not shred them, as much as he wanted to. In shreds, they’d be so much more comfortable.

\----------

At the hospital…

The trio of Ayano, Angela, and Karin had been shuffled out of Kitsu’s room, while the doctor and nurses attended to Kitsu. They had brought in the means to perform a saline flush of his system to remove the remnants of the antibiotics from his system. The ladies wanted to stay, but they were informed that they could not due to needing space to move around the bed and within the room. Of course there was some dissatisfaction with this, but the women conceded and evacuated the room, leaving them all to work on getting Kitsu better.

Karin and Angela paced a bit, where Ayano continued to play her mobile game. She looked up from her game to the pair. “You two should just sit and relax. Kitsu is going to be fine.”

Angela stopped her pacing, looked to the door and let out a sigh before flopping onto a waiting room chair next to Ayano. “You’re right. Just nervous is all.” She pulled out her book and instead of reading it, just drummed her fingers across it. “I just want this to be done and over with.”

Karin stopped pacing and nodded, “I think all of us are sharing that thought right now.”

“Do either of you know what is being done to him, they said they were flushing his system.”

Ayano chimed in. “They are basically going to run saline solution through his blood stream to wash away the antibiotic that has not been absorbed.” The others looked at her surprised. She looked up from her phone, and shrugged. “Heard about it in one of my games before.” With that she went back to her game, while the others watched the door for any signs they could go back in.

Time moved slowly for everyone as they waited. It seemed like they would wait an eternity for them to finish with the process. After a short while, the group were startled by the call out of a new voice. They all jumped at the sight of Rumi coming towards the waiting area. She set down her duffle bag on a chair and the four girls hugged for a moment. ii

\----------

The moment the bag was set down, Red had his claws in the zipper seam, forcing it open and pushing himself partially out before he hurled magic down the back of the chair. Damn he hated riding in that thing. Nausea sucked. While he tried to get his magic back under control, he looked around, squinting at the bright lights. He preferred the soft light of the Den. When he saw the other three and Rumi all sharing a hug, he thought about calling out, but then he noticed that they weren’t alone. There were humans everywhere. This place stunk of something that burned his nasal cavity and was chalk-full of humans. He ducked back into the bag, but stayed where he could peer out. Where the hell were they?

\----------

Small chat was exchanged between the welcome backs and compliments on her maid outfit. After a while of gloom, it was nice to see a bit of happiness amongst them. “It’s good to be home, though I just did not expect to come home to Kitsu in the hospital. Has he gotten any better?”

Karin spoke up first, “Not much, he is still a bit wiped. They are flushing his system right now to clear out the excess drugs, or at least that is what our medic here says they are doing.” Throwing a thumb and a smirk towards Ayano.”

Ayano blushed for a moment, “Hey just because I main healers doesn’t mean I am a medic in life ya know…”

Angela patted her on the shoulder, “You still have more knowledge than us, so you do have that.” While Ayano tried to make coherent sentences, Rumi looked over to the bag, now noticing it was opened. Her eyes went wide at the possibility of Red having escaped, so she moved over to check inside. Ayano finally spoke up again, trying to get the attention off of her. “Everything ok?”

Rumi let out a sigh. “Yep everything is ok. My stowaway did not escape. Also when was I going to be told about him?”

The trio looked to each other with a snicker and peered into the bag to find a pretty worn out Red glaring at them. “Did he sneak in or did you know he was here?” Angela asked.

“He was adamant about coming along, if I came to see Kitsu. Grandpa has the mask shards, and he wants Kitsu to visit him. I hope you can all read me in on this, considering I almost smashed him with my broom out of fright.”

\----------

“Bitch is scary.” Red remarked before releasing a belch and turning a sickening red-orange color and leaping at the side of the bag to puke again. This sucked. After a few moments, he released the side of the bag to fall back against Rumi’s shirts. “What’re ya lookin’ at?” He groaned at them but it had no venom. He was too sick to be properly ‘tough’.

\----------

“Looks like the little guy has trouble with his travel conditions.” Karen piped up. “So you wanted to see Kitsu, eh Red?”

“Guess that Red is thankful for what Kitsu has done for him. I mean if he struggled with being motion sick just to come here with Rumi.” Angela spoke out inquisitively

\----------

Lazily, Red flipped the lot of them off. “Ya don’ know me. Don’ think fer me. Jus’ makin’ tsure ah din’ kill ‘im.” He belched quietly again, eyelights shrinking before resuming their normal shape as his mouth formed into a grimace.

\----------

“Kill him? What are you talking about, Red?” Ayano asked puzzled by the statement. Before Red could answer, Rumi chimed in. “He told grandpa and me about how his “magic” can be dangerous at times. And since the bite on Kitsu’s hand is “magically” infected to be a lasting mark, he figured that it could have reacted somehow and tried to kill Kitsu.” At the utterance of those words, the trio glared down at Red for a moment in complete silence.

\----------

A bead of magic appeared on the side of his skull. “Fer one, fuck you.” He glared at Rumi. They didn’t need to know that. “An fer two, dat was b’fore ‘e was nice ta me. Was dafensive. Ain’ ‘ad da magic ta r’move it yet. Was plannin’ on it.” He tried to defend quickly, starting to brace himself to try and get away. They may be pretty, but damn, these chicks were gonna be the death of him.

\----------

The silence was kept for a short while, until it was broken by Karin. “Red...Just be thankful that this was caused by a misprescription and not from your magic. Though even after all of that, Kitsu still did the kindness to you. Guess that says something about our boss and friend, huh?”

\----------

“Look, ya don’ ‘ave ta tell me I done fucked up. Was plannin’ on fixin’ it soon as I ‘ad the power. Bit ‘im when ‘e tried ta grab me, b’fore I even knew ‘is name. I came ‘ere ta check on ‘im. Don’ dat stan’ ta show anyt’in’?” He was growling by the end of it. He didn’t like what they were accusing him of. It wasn’t like he’d cursed the guy after knowing what he’d do. It was purely defensive.

\----------

“Calm down, Red. What matters is that Kitsu is doing better, they just need to finish their procedure and we can all go in and see him.” Angela said as she glanced towards the door to Kitsu’s room. “So Rumi…” Angela looked to the maid with a smirk. “Bitty Red here gave you a fright. I thought you had steel nerves?”

Whether it was the red of her cheeks or the fogging up of her glasses, Rumi was obviously very embarrassed by this statement. “Well...not everyday you see an animated skeleton thing putting pieces of your boss’ mask back together. Would have been nice to know about him…”

\----------

Now that the attention was off of him, Red started to perk up a little bit. He really didn’t like being the center of negative attention. He’d had his share back under the mountain. Pinning it on others was easier. “Heh, she looked like a spooked mousey. All crouched an’ ready ta strike at me. Ah wasn’ even doin’ nothin’ wrong dis time.” He smirked and chuckled at his description. Like all rodents, mice were notorious nasties for him to deal with. Not as bad as rats and much cuter, but still much more deadly than ants or spiders even after spotting them. They were smarter than insects too.

\----------

“And I am sure as you can tell...I would have been able to broom you before you knew what happened, Red.” She snapped back at Red, as she took a moment to clear her glasses. “Important thing is that The Den has been cleaned and sanitized. Felt good to be back within its walls.”

Everyone nodded in agreement that it was good to have her back, though they still wanted to get back in to see Kitsu. Time continued to crawl, as they all tried to occupy their time. Playing on phones, napping, getting something to eat or drink, whatever they could until the moment they were waiting for arrived.

Eventually, the sound of a door opening grabbed their attention, their heads all moved to watch as the medical team started to vacate Kitsu’s room with their equipment, the head doctor tailing behind. No sooner had he emerged, then was swarmed by the women, all eager to see if Kitsu was fine. He raised his hands and tried to calm the group. “Ladies, he is doing fine. Just worn out from the treatment. If you wish to go in again, go ahead, just please be a little quieter is all.” The huddle nodded and the doctor stepped aside, allowing them access. The doctor was about to make a comment about four visitors, but glares shut him up and he walked away.

  
\----------

Red hung on as the girls rushed and his ride-along bag was swept off it’s chair. He felt a momentary pity for anybody who had to clean up the magic he’d spewed earlier, but it faded quickly as nausea quickly made itself clear in the rushed, rough movements of his carrier. He kept his mouth shut though, not wanting to draw any other humans’ attention. Once he was in the room, he was getting the hell out of this damn thing and not returning until he had to. He would rather be carried or ride on one of the girls than in that thing again, no matter how demeaning it felt.

\----------

Once inside the room, they were greeted with the sight of a semi-conscious Kitsu. He heard the group stammer in and turned his head to see them. He still looked out of it, but he was definitely more alert. “Hey...ladies…” A weak raise of a hand acknowledged the group. They crowded around the bed, Rumi putting down her bag on the bed, allowing Red to see Kitsu as well. The room was filled with quiet mutters as everyone gathered around to make sure their friend was doing alright. The road to recovery would be short, but who knows what waits around the next turn for these people and their bitty tag-a-long?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anybody has trouble with Red's accent, if it is too thick, let me know. I'm going for scottish/back alley brit but I've never done it before. I'm also basing it pretty heavily on how I cut my own words. That isn't to say that I speak scottish, british, or have either of those accents. I just cut a lot of my words and when I'm writing his speech, I read the line and see how my pronunciation actually would be spelled out.


	5. READ ME

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Notes from the Authors, very important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THIS

Hello readers. This is Silvercrane, the co writer of this story with Revharem. I just wanted to say a few small things, since I hardly respond to comments. Chock that up to me still getting used to publishing my writings, and interacting with the readers. We took a bit of a break because I needed time to handle personal projects, but we have finally returned with a new chapter.

I have been reading the comments being left, and I understand that many of you are not very happy that my characters are not treating Red as you believe they should, or not trying to tend to his injuries/hunger. Needless to say, I understand your thinking. Going forward, we will be working on making Red a bit more centralized to the story. I already know where I want this story to go as far as Red is concerned. It will all work out, trust me.

Well, with that out of the way, I do want to say thank you for all of the views, kudos, bookmarks and comments. When Rev brought the idea of this to me, I did not expect to have as much traffic or interactions as it has gotten. Last chapter was a drop in activity, but given the nature of it, I was not very surprised. We do hope those who have stuck around continue to. We have come this far and we do not want this great story to just die before it is completed. 

Please continue to read, comment, and show your enjoyment of our work with this story. It makes both of us exceptionally happy to see all of the interactions. Keep them coming as we continue the task at hand. Thank you! ~ Silvercrane666

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Now, that being said, Revharem here, Kitsu and co. are just as important as Red. They are human, not monster, they are average size to Red’s bitty. They are unfamiliar with dealing with a bitty, or something inhuman and sentient. They are treating Red as well as can be expected in reality given how much input Red has given them. 

Red has not stated to them that he actually is continually hungry, that his body is metabolizing the food to turn into magic for his healing. As humans, they could not begin to understand the magic that runs in his bones. Angie has the closest idea, but even she deals with a very different magic than what Red has. 

As for Red’s injuries, he does his best to hide how much he is hurt just because of how and where he has come from. To show pain, weakness, or any form of inefficiency would lead to death. 

While I personally understand your bashing of Kitsu from Red’s POV, remember to look at things from Kitsu and co.’s POV as well. The majority of the people in this story are OCC and they are just as important as Red. 

Thank you for your time in reading our little ramble. Make sure to read our next chapter when we release it! We haven’t started yet, but we are developing ideas. Coming Soon!

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions for either of us, please put them in the comments and we will explain to the best of our ability. This fanfiction has raised a lot of unhappy input from readers and we want people to enjoy the read. We try to answer every question as it comes in, but we are always looking to hear from you, any questions, input, or ideas are welcome. Hate and love, we grow from it all, just try not to be nasty. Thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> Like? Love? Not really care? Hate? Leave us a comment so we can improve and keep providing you content in this new world. No account is needed to post a comment. Hope to hear from you all soon.


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